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Late afternoon,
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Wednesday the 27th of September.
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The year is 1066,
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and a vast Norman battle force is bent on the destruction
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of Anglo-Saxon England.
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But 1066 is about far more than just the Battle of Hastings.
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This is the story of three kings, three battles and three invasions,
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of 12 months that transformed Britain.
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As well as Harold of England...
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..and Duke William of Normandy...
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Do you recognise me?
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..there was also a Viking,
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King Harald Hardrada,
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all facing off in a series of bloodbaths...
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..that brought an end to the long terror of the Vikings...
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..before, finally, the epic Battle of Hastings itself.
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What 1066 led to is stamped on our landscape.
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The Normans forged a new Britain,
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with language, laws and customs we still live with today.
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But just how the Normans seized such power is much less clear.
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Now I am travelling Europe in search of answers,
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experimenting with weapons and tactics...
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I mean, that is completely terrifying -
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you could chop someone in half.
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..and discovering revelations hidden within a unique document
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written just months after those great battles...
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What it essentially says,
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is that William sent in a dedicated death squad.
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..to reveal a bitter tale of family betrayals...
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My brother, he is a lying dog.
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..and tragic twists of fate...
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Soon we will be filling England's graveyards.
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..which would change the shape of Britain...
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March to battle.
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..and Europe...
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..forever.
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Shall we do battle?!
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This is the real story of 1066.
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Early morning, and Harold of England is in York,
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200 miles north of London.
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Just three days have passed since the Anglo-Saxon king fought for
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his kingdom and his life.
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The battle for York at Stamford Bridge
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was a watershed in British history.
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Harold had killed his rival brother,
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the exiled Earl Tostig, ending a bitter family feud.
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And the Viking, King Harald Hardrada,
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had died a warrior's death in his bid for immortal glory.
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The English victory marked the beginning of the end
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of the great Viking age of conquest.
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Harold has destroyed two of his great foes in a single battle.
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But he has no idea that, 300 miles away,
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William and 700 Norman ships are now bearing down
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on England's southern shores.
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After months of planning and preparation,
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William was finally making his bid for the English crown.
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He believed it was his right, he believed that God was on his side,
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and he was certain that it was just a matter of time before
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Anglo-Saxon King Harold was toppled from his throne, dead or alive.
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William, by 1066, is at the height of his power.
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He is getting on for 40 years old,
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he has been very successful in defending and expanding
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his Duchy of Normandy,
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and now he has his eyes set on the prize that he was promised
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15 years earlier - the throne of England.
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My Lord.
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William has been trapped in port for two long months.
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Now finally at sea, it seems his troubles are far from over.
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Where are they?
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William's ship is adrift,
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alone in the Channel.
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William sent a man up the mast to try and spot the rest of the fleet,
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but it was nowhere to be seen.
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Trying to appear unconcerned, he sat down,
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ate a hearty breakfast accompanied by spiced wine.
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But he must've been feeling sick inside.
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He'd spent most of 1066 and vast amounts of money
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gathering this invasion fleet
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and now it seemed to have just disappeared.
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Having faced delays and vicious storms,
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William had taken a massive risk,
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sailing into changeable autumn winds and bad visibility.
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But as his fleet appeared in the distance,
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he knew that, at last, the great invasion was on.
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HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
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With King Harold in the north and his navy stood down,
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William sails on unopposed.
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Already he is closer to London than the English King himself,
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without a single arrow being fired.
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I've invited two historians to get inside the heads
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of our remaining rival warriors.
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I've been wronged before God and now I will have my vengeance.
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Harold of England...
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..and William of Normandy.
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They'll explore the thinking behind their battle plans...
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Then I'm going to send in my fleets into the channel to block you,
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in case you try and get back to Normandy.
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..as the two warlords gear up for the final battle.
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So here I come crossing the Channel, heading for Pevensey in Sussex,
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and what adds to my sense of achievement is that Pevensey
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is in the earldom of Wessex, which is your heartland,
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so that is a delicious seasoning for my revenge.
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I feel excited and now I can see with my own eyes
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what my spies have been telling me -
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that the south coast is indeed undefended.
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And what that means is that I can land and build a base unopposed.
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Things could hardly be going better for me.
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Well, I was waiting on the Isle of Wight for you to attack for weeks.
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And you did nothing. So I assumed you had given up, at least for now.
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No.
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And also, summer is over - we all know it's incredibly difficult
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to cross the Channel in the autumn,
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so I reasonably assumed you would wait until the spring
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- before you tried anything else.
- You underestimated me.
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OK, well, things haven't panned out as I expected either.
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I am up in the north, I have been fighting off the Vikings and Tostig.
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All I want to do is get to London and get some rest.
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9am.
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By the grace of God, I've taken hold of my kingdom.
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England is in my hands.
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This was a classic moment of William the politician, where you
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take something that could be a terrible omen -
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you know, he falls headfirst, the failure of his mission.
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And instead it's turned into a sign of God's total support
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for his rule, his success, his kingdom.
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William began to dig in here at Pevensey, and quickly captured
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the neighbouring town of Hastings.
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Over the course of the next 24 hours, an estimated 14,000 men,
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3,000 horses and tonnes of supplies came ashore
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to establish a powerful base which would eventually become
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this Norman castle.
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Conquest couldn't have been easier.
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Where were the English soldiers to fight them off?
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Where were the tough Anglo-Saxon warriors
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to drive them back into the sea?
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Where was King Harold to repel Duke William?
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They were all hundreds of miles away.
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Harold doesn't even know that William has left France,
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let alone landed.
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But William also has to make guesses, because he doesn't know
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the fate of Harald Hardrada and his great Viking army.
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So what I do know is that you've headed north to confront Hardrada
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and you have taken your army with you.
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But who has won the great battle that I have to assume has been fought?
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And most saliently, from my point of view,
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who am I going to be facing in battle?
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Is it going to be Harald of Norway...
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..or is it going to be Harold of England?
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No-one knows exactly when the terrible news of William's arrival
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reached Harold, 300 miles away to the north.
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But we can work out what might have happened.
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Bad news travels fast.
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We know that messengers were able to ride around the clock,
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constantly using fresh horses.
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Now, a horse can gallop up to 30mph for short periods,
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so by constantly using fresh horses, it is possible that the word
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could have travelled from Pevensey down here to York
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in as little as a day.
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The news must have been a body blow to Harold.
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He had just fought one great battle to secure his kingdom,
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and now he realised that he faced another,
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possibly even bloodier fight.
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Six days after William's landing, and a still battle-weary Harold
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rides south for London.
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With William securing his base and taking land,
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the English King is in deep trouble.
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All his life, Harold had been in the right place at the right time.
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Born into the most powerful family in England, he had been at
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the previous King's deathbed.
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He had managed to win the support of the ruling nobles.
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And he'd moved fast to defeat his brother
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and the great Viking invasion.
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But now Harold was still more than 200 miles away from mounting
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a defence of his kingdom.
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And after York, his own force was badly depleted.
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Harold would have to do as best he could without many of his best men.
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As he marched south to London, he ordered that a new army be raised.
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He was determined to repeat his success at Stamford Bridge,
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to repel the invader and secure his crown.
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The obvious thing to do is to keep going south and to take you on
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in battle, but that is not my only option,
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because I can sit and wait it out in London.
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Your provisions are going to run out.
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Winter is on its way,
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it is only a matter of time before your supplies give up.
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Well, by now I have heard about your victory at Stamford Bridge
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and I think it is reasonable to assume
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that you have heard about my landing.
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I want to goad you into attacking me while you are still exhausted,
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and so to that end I am literally branding my authority
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on the countryside of Sussex.
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I am sending my troops out to put villages to the torch,
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to kill the locals, and I'm doing that because I am banking on the
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fact that that will infuriate you, and thinking that,
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I'm going to be honest here,
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makes me smile.
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- What do we do now?
- Fight.
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He's in our country, destroying our lands and our people -
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we have no choice.
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When Harold returns to London, there is a big debate about whether they
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should go immediately and confront the Normans or wait until the army
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has been properly assembled.
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His brother and his mother are both keen to wait and pause,
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but Harold is incredibly impatient.
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You might be the King, but I am your mother.
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This isn't about me.
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This is about England.
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- Look, let me go and fight William, you stay here.
- Never.
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But if you fight, you may die.
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I'll do my duty.
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Listen to me.
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If we fight William without you,
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you can raise reinforcements to back us up, and if we fail,
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you can defeat William while he is weak.
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OK, with clear eyes I can see that Gyrth's plan is sensible.
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He comes in and fights you first,
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then I come in with a second wave and finish you off.
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But...in the heat of the moment,
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I'm not going to listen to plans like that.
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And that's exactly what I want to happen.
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My tactics are working - by ravaging your heartlands,
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I've goaded you and I'm luring you into battle,
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with the result that you are behaving intemperately,
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you can't see straight for your anger.
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Look, it's my job to defend my kingdom.
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Just three days later,
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Harold leads his army south from London,
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towards Hastings and William.
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Look, I am going to come down there and I am going to defeat you.
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I'm going to keep marching south with my men to Hastings,
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then I'm going to send my fleets into the Channel to block you,
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in case you try and get back to Normandy.
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But my primary game plan is to do what worked so well for me
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at Stamford Bridge, which is to get to you fast
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and take you by surprise.
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Well, that may be your plan but you are forgetting one thing -
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I am sending my cavalry out on reconnaissance.
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They're tracking your every move.
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If you think you're going to take me by surprise,
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you've got another think coming.
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As Harold marched south,
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he was joined by fresh troops along the way.
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But he was also met by an envoy sent by William,
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in an effort to persuade him to back down.
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Well?
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My Lord would like to remind you that he is the rightful King of England.
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Both King Edward and yourself promised it to him.
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You know how I feel about that.
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The Duke has a solution -
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to put his case against you before judgment,
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by the law of the English, or of the Normans, as you prefer.
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Edward on his deathbed named me his successor.
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If they decree by right that you ought to possess this kingdom,
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00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:24,120
let you possess it in peace.
255
00:17:24,120 --> 00:17:27,960
Fine. Then let the Duke take his army back to Normandy.
256
00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:31,480
But if they agree it should be surrendered to the Duke William,
257
00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:32,680
you must abandon it to him.
258
00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:35,000
I will not be judged for my kingdom.
259
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:37,720
My Lord,
260
00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:39,520
if you reject this,
261
00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:43,240
the Duke does not consider it right that either his men or yours
262
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:47,200
should fall in battle, for they have no guilt in your dispute.
263
00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:48,320
So what, then?
264
00:17:49,360 --> 00:17:54,240
The Duke offers to fight you, head-to-head in single combat,
265
00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:57,800
to prove the kingdom should be his rather than yours, by right.
266
00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:03,080
Then he takes me for a fool.
267
00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:08,440
May God this day judge the right between me and William.
268
00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:09,560
We march today.
269
00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:11,840
We march to battle!
270
00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:48,560
On the night of Friday the 13th of October,
271
00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:52,160
the two sides camped around eight miles apart.
272
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:56,440
Apparently William feared a night attack, so he made his men stand-to
273
00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:58,400
through the night, ready for battle.
274
00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:03,400
A chronicler tells us that while the Normans spent the night in prayer,
275
00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:06,160
the English partied and drank.
276
00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:13,320
I suspect this is Norman propaganda.
277
00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:17,840
Some of those Englishmen would have fought at Stamford Bridge,
278
00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:20,160
and have marched down south with Harold.
279
00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:26,120
The others are there defending their own lands, defending their kingdom.
280
00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:28,480
I doubt they were drunkenly carousing,
281
00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:32,360
cos nobody really wants to fight with a hangover.
282
00:19:32,360 --> 00:19:35,560
Harold must face one more day of battle.
283
00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:41,160
He knows that victory would make him untouchable -
284
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:44,840
a great warrior king to rival any who was gone before.
285
00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:51,200
Defeat would mean the fall of Anglo-Saxon England
286
00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:54,120
and almost certain death.
287
00:19:54,120 --> 00:19:56,640
LORD'S PRAYER IN OLD FRENCH
288
00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:07,360
William, meanwhile, is rested and prepared.
289
00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:14,400
Victory would make him one of Europe's richest
290
00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:16,480
and most powerful leaders.
291
00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:22,720
Transformed before God from a duke into a king.
292
00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:32,240
Both know that the future of England is about to be written -
293
00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:33,880
in blood.
294
00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:55,080
May this day,
295
00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:58,080
the most sacred powers invested in me by our father...
296
00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,000
..lead us to victory over wickedness,
297
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:05,400
and bring everlasting peace to this land.
298
00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:21,080
I've been dreaming of this for months.
299
00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:25,360
I have been wronged before God and now I will have my vengeance.
300
00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:28,040
Today is my day.
301
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:29,560
God wills it.
302
00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:31,800
Not if I can help it.
303
00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:35,040
I am already marching south towards you,
304
00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:37,520
and my soldiers are on their mettle.
305
00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:42,680
We can meet you anywhere and I am planning on being ready at the first
306
00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:43,880
chance to attack.
307
00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:47,560
Well, don't think that I'm sitting around praying all morning.
308
00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:52,120
I've got no intention of letting you come and attack me down in Hastings,
309
00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:55,720
so I will be marching northwards along the road that leads
310
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:59,920
from Hastings to London and my plan is to stop you marching
311
00:21:59,920 --> 00:22:02,920
any further south into my territory.
312
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:19,960
8am.
313
00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:21,280
Marching north,
314
00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:25,760
William spots Harold's army emerging from a forest on a distant hill.
315
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:29,720
At last.
316
00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:42,160
After months of waiting, William can finally ready himself for battle.
317
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:47,280
But his mail coat is back-to-front.
318
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:54,840
LAUGHTER
319
00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:01,560
There have been a series of very unfortunate mishaps for William.
320
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:09,240
He loses his fleet halfway across the Channel,
321
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:12,840
he stumbles as soon as he sets foot on English soil,
322
00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:16,440
and he puts his mail coat on the wrong way around.
323
00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:20,200
Now, this would have terrified any normal man,
324
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:23,840
but William just laughs it off - as far as he is concerned,
325
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:27,120
he has every right to the English throne.
326
00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,160
Great men of Normandy,
327
00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:34,600
great men of Brittany,
328
00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:37,320
great men of Burgundy,
329
00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,000
Christians one and all,
330
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:43,080
today we fight under God's banner.
331
00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:45,480
Victory will be ours once more.
332
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:47,200
CHEERING
333
00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:54,480
Meanwhile, Harold sees the Norman army in the distance.
334
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:02,360
What Harold did next is detailed in a unique document that takes us
335
00:24:02,360 --> 00:24:07,040
to the very heart of events that autumn day nearly 1,000 years ago.
336
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:18,080
Hidden in the National Library in Brussels is an ancient book
337
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:20,720
containing an epic poem.
338
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:24,200
The Carmen, or Song Of The Battle Of Hastings,
339
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,240
is our earliest surviving account of 1066.
340
00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:30,640
It gives us a blow-by-blow description
341
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,320
of this pivotal moment in history.
342
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,920
This is the Battle of Hastings laid bare,
343
00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:40,280
from the first move to the last death.
344
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:47,280
It tells us a little about the way Harold deployed his forces.
345
00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:52,000
So you have a line here that says there was a hill nearby
346
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,600
that they seized and the English...
347
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:56,480
HE SPEAKS LATIN
348
00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:58,840
..as was their wont...
349
00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:01,760
HE SPEAKS LATIN
350
00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:06,960
So they advance to occupy the hill in their famous dense formation,
351
00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:09,280
the shield wall. So Harold, it's telling us,
352
00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:11,880
begins the battle by seizing the high ground.
353
00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:23,400
950 years on, and one of the most seismic moments in British history
354
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:25,280
has become the stuff of tourism.
355
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:33,040
This is the town of Battle, eight miles from Hastings.
356
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,760
And it stands right next to the historic site itself.
357
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,040
On the early morning of the 14th of October 1066,
358
00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:48,720
the English and the Normans faced each other on this battlefield.
359
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:52,480
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle said that the battle took place
360
00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:54,720
near the hoary apple tree.
361
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:05,400
OK, so, we are halfway, a third of the way up this big, gentle,
362
00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:07,680
but quite long slope. Is this no-man's land, then?
363
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:10,120
Effectively, at the beginning of the battle, I suppose we are.
364
00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:12,280
So what you have to imagine is that behind me...
365
00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:15,800
Forget about all the ruined buildings you can see behind me, that's the later Abbey...
366
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,280
Right at the top of the slope beyond what you can see
367
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,680
of the ruined buildings, is where Harold has placed his standard.
368
00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:24,480
I'm feeling pretty good about where we are.
369
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,920
We've got the better position,
370
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:29,520
we're in a good tight formation,
371
00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:32,400
all we need to do is hold this position for the rest of the day.
372
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,560
Behind you at the bottom of the valley is where you are
373
00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:39,720
going to find Duke William's army, and they are at an immediate
374
00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:42,320
disadvantage because if you imagine that the bottom of
375
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:45,160
the valley is rather marshy, very damp,
376
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,560
they would come through that damp land and then start climbing
377
00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:50,080
the hill to take Harold's position.
378
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:53,440
It's true that we absolutely do have the worst position.
379
00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:56,120
We're going to have to take the battle to you, we're going to have
380
00:26:56,120 --> 00:26:58,880
to go uphill and that is always a challenging thing to do.
381
00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:01,920
Knackering and quite intimidating. That's the English army up there,
382
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:03,720
and they are not going to be moved easily.
383
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,360
That's the English army up there shouting at you, shouting,
384
00:27:06,360 --> 00:27:07,880
"Ut, ut, ut!"
385
00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:09,920
You've got the Norman army apparently singing
386
00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:12,840
The Song Of Roland as they approach, you've got the sound of trumpets
387
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:15,840
at the start of the battle, you've got the noise, the fanfare,
388
00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:19,640
the adrenaline and the fear - as the Norman advance
389
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:21,360
comes on to the Saxon.
390
00:27:21,360 --> 00:27:23,920
We do have certain advantages.
391
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:27,440
We, for instance, have three lines of battle here in the front.
392
00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:29,280
We have our archers,
393
00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:34,720
and then behind them we have a line of infantry and then behind them,
394
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:37,320
our strike force, our cavalry.
395
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:41,240
And looking around I can see that you have absolutely no cavalry
396
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:43,080
on the field at all,
397
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:46,200
and that leads me to conclude that you are going to be fighting
398
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:50,480
in the old-fashioned, plodding English way that you always do,
399
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:54,480
and that makes me feel good about our prospects.
400
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:59,680
Before the sun sets, you will have honour, fame and riches.
401
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:02,160
Do not fear.
402
00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:05,280
We will not be slaughtered,
403
00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,000
or captured and mocked by our enemy.
404
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:14,880
Now is the time to dare and then to rejoice in a triumph that will echo
405
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:18,720
down the centuries, with our names and our deeds.
406
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:20,240
CHEERING
407
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:29,040
The stage was set for a day that would shape the future of Britain
408
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:30,240
and Europe.
409
00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:35,840
The unfolding dramas of 1066,
410
00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:40,280
ever since the death of the old, childless King Edward the Confessor,
411
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:41,560
had come to this.
412
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:44,240
Two great armies...
413
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:46,520
..and a field.
414
00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:52,560
9am -
415
00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:54,360
battle begins.
416
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,120
My first order is to my archers.
417
00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:10,320
Volley after volley is aimed up the hill at the English line.
418
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,720
A rain of arrows was a terrifying sight...
419
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:22,720
..and every sharpened point potentially devastating.
420
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:35,640
That's just gone clean through - it shows how much power there is in that bow.
421
00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:37,120
There's a lot of velocity.
422
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,160
It was only really the rich who had all that mail and all that helmet,
423
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:42,480
so there's a lot of vulnerable people on the battlefield,
424
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,360
and if you're vulnerable, that's going to happen to you.
425
00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:48,160
The advantage of this is you don't have to be up close and personal.
426
00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:50,560
You can actually be, what? 100 metres, almost 200 metres
427
00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:52,880
away from someone and still do them great damage?
428
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,760
Indeed. If you're selecting an individual, then you're probably
429
00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:57,760
20, 50 metres away. If you're raining it down,
430
00:29:57,760 --> 00:29:59,520
then you can be 200 metres back.
431
00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:02,280
So, yeah, it is one thing worrying about the threat on the ground,
432
00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:05,720
- the guys coming, but you've also got an aerial threat.
- Exactly.
433
00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:07,000
Draw.
434
00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:19,160
But my archers are just the first wave, a kind of softener.
435
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:21,800
Next, up the hill I send my infantry
436
00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:24,240
and they too are a fearsome proposition,
437
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:28,480
armed as they are with daggers, with axes and with swords.
438
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:50,000
The great thing is that our shield wall means that you can't actually
439
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,000
do any major damage,
440
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,600
so we grab hold of everything we can lay our hands on -
441
00:30:55,600 --> 00:31:00,240
spears, sticks, rocks, and we hurl them at your incoming infantry.
442
00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:05,240
OK, but you are yet to face my most lethal weapon of all,
443
00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:08,640
something that you English, wielding your axes,
444
00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:10,520
rooted to the spot as you are,
445
00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:13,480
will find a truly terrifying novelty -
446
00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:14,800
my cavalry.
447
00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,880
The Normans and the English do warfare in quite different ways,
448
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:33,280
and the main difference is that the Normans have cavalry,
449
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:34,320
whereas the English,
450
00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:37,000
because they've been fighting the Vikings for a century or so,
451
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:39,160
do things in a more Scandinavian way.
452
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:43,480
They ride to battle but then they dismount, and fight on foot,
453
00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:47,040
so the Norman elite does have this advantage.
454
00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:53,520
But it wasn't a done deal for the Norman cavalry.
455
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:58,840
Facing them was a wall of linked shields.
456
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,360
This was a sturdy defence perfected against the Vikings.
457
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,720
And it was said to be virtually impenetrable.
458
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,960
So with the help of some local sixth formers from Battle,
459
00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:20,360
I'm going to put it to the test.
460
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:26,360
The idea behind a shield wall is that individually we are weak,
461
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:28,080
together we are...
462
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:29,320
ALL: Strong!
463
00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:30,680
You've got it. There you go.
464
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:33,120
Interlocking wall of shields, right.
465
00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:35,840
All right, guys, I'm coming right in the middle here like King Harold.
466
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:38,040
Here we go. Brace yourselves.
467
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:40,160
One, two, three, go.
468
00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:44,400
OK, hold them, hold them!
469
00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:47,760
Well done, guys.
470
00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:51,160
OK, so now we are in the formation that the Anglo-Saxons were in,
471
00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:53,360
and as you can see, it does give you great strength.
472
00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:57,600
You're working together, you can get your body weight and can withstand anything coming at you.
473
00:32:57,600 --> 00:32:59,200
It feels impenetrable,
474
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:02,240
especially when the Normans have had to attack all the way up the hill
475
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:04,600
as well, they'd have been knackered.
476
00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:07,640
The English were so tightly packed together that there was hardly
477
00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:11,560
any room for the slain men to fall to the ground.
478
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:15,680
There we go. Push them back. One, two, three, go. OK.
479
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:24,280
William's invasion force,
480
00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:28,120
used to the European style of agile fighting on horseback,
481
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:29,920
had never encountered a solid,
482
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:32,480
old-fashioned English shield wall before.
483
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:43,080
So all I need to do is to hold fast behind the shield wall.
484
00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:45,280
Let you do all of the running.
485
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:49,120
You are advancing again and again uphill.
486
00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:53,120
Now, I know that if I can hold this until nightfall, I've probably
487
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,360
got a pretty good chance of winning the battle.
488
00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:59,920
You'll be exhausted, then I can call for reinforcements
489
00:33:59,920 --> 00:34:03,800
- from across England.
- OK, so the battle has been going on now for a couple of hours
490
00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:07,400
and I will confess, I am starting to feel just a little bit worried.
491
00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:11,240
I am painfully aware that I have to break your shield wall,
492
00:34:11,240 --> 00:34:13,480
and force victory by nightfall,
493
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:16,720
and so it is that I send in wave after wave of attack -
494
00:34:16,720 --> 00:34:19,760
my archers, my infantry, my cavalry,
495
00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:22,520
in a desperate attempt to defeat you.
496
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:32,960
Noon, and the battle is locked in stalemate.
497
00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:37,200
After three hours of repeated attacks,
498
00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:39,200
William is failing to break through.
499
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:47,960
Then, without warning, an entire flank of William's army
500
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:50,880
turns and runs away from the English line.
501
00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:58,400
This unexpected turn of events has long been the subject of debate.
502
00:34:58,400 --> 00:34:59,720
Just what was going on?
503
00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:03,960
Could William's well-trained soldiers really
504
00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:05,760
have simply turned and fled?
505
00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:10,480
The ancient sources disagree.
506
00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:14,400
Some say that William's men were fleeing,
507
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:16,480
defeated by the English shield wall.
508
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:21,840
But the very earliest account of the battle contains a revelation.
509
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:26,120
The Carmen talks about this episode
510
00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:27,760
and it says...
511
00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:29,480
HE SPEAKS LATIN
512
00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:38,600
"And, as if beaten, they cunningly simulated flight."
513
00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:42,320
So in other words, it's a ruse, it's a feigned retreat.
514
00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:44,480
Yes, of course it's a tactical move.
515
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:48,000
We Normans do it all the time - it is a tried and tested manoeuvre.
516
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:52,720
You see, the thing is, if you can convince an enemy that they have
517
00:35:52,720 --> 00:35:54,320
victory within their grasp,
518
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:57,360
then you can persuade them to leave the security of their
519
00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:00,120
shield wall and your men certainly have been suckered.
520
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:03,160
Look at that - my trap is working beautifully.
521
00:36:05,240 --> 00:36:08,880
Smelling victory, the English charge in pursuit.
522
00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:17,080
Meanwhile, in the Norman camp, a terrible rumour begins to spread.
523
00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:21,840
That William himself is dead.
524
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:26,440
In medieval battles, the death of a commander usually meant the end,
525
00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:27,920
certain defeat.
526
00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,080
William's line began to waver.
527
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:31,400
But William was not dead -
528
00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,400
he removed his helmet, showing his face to his men.
529
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:35,720
Look at me!
530
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:39,760
Do you recognise me?
531
00:36:42,680 --> 00:36:46,360
I am alive! With God's help, I will conquer!
532
00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:52,960
I've seen a lot of fighting and I know that at moments like this
533
00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:56,480
you have to show your face and rally your men.
534
00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:57,840
And it works.
535
00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:02,120
They turn round and hack the pursuing English to death.
536
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:05,760
Again and again they attack the shield wall.
537
00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:11,840
And twice we try the feinted retreat, and twice your men
538
00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:14,520
come pouring down the hill.
539
00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:18,680
Now, I sense a real shift in the fortunes of battle here
540
00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:20,320
and an opportunity.
541
00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:26,000
Because your previously solid shield wall is now perforated
542
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:28,320
with gaping holes.
543
00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:39,000
Harold's impregnable defence has splintered.
544
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:46,280
The Norman retreats have opened up the battle into fluid and brutal
545
00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:47,760
close-up fighting.
546
00:37:51,720 --> 00:37:57,680
OK, we are rapidly losing our advantage and being forced to fight
547
00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:02,720
on open ground. We're going to have to step up and fight hard,
548
00:38:02,720 --> 00:38:04,960
hand-to-hand, face-to-face.
549
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:09,320
Everything seems to have turned around in a matter of minutes.
550
00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:13,280
I was completely in control of the situation and now I'm not.
551
00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:30,000
Now William's cavalry has the freedom to wreak terror.
552
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:34,720
While on the ground,
553
00:38:34,720 --> 00:38:40,160
vicious weapons are inflicting terrible carnage on both sides.
554
00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:42,120
It's basically a dagger, stabbing weapon.
555
00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:43,880
Of course, a dagger stabbing weapon
556
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:46,240
is repeated again and again and again -
557
00:38:46,240 --> 00:38:48,320
come in nice and close, choose your target...
558
00:38:50,720 --> 00:38:54,840
Oh! That just went through like a knife through butter.
559
00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:57,800
- God!
- There was no effort there at all, was there?
- No. What's next?
560
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:00,920
I think we'll go with the classic, the Norman sword.
561
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:02,480
OK, here we go.
562
00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:07,600
Whoa!
563
00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:09,400
I mean, that is completely terrifying.
564
00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:11,080
You could chop someone in half.
565
00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:13,240
You don't need words when you see that.
566
00:39:13,240 --> 00:39:16,960
Unprotected flesh, and that's what it is going to do.
567
00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:18,080
It's terrifying.
568
00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:21,200
And that's not the most devastating weapon in the arsenal.
569
00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:24,480
Here we go - the axe, Dane-axe, battle-axe.
570
00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:35,040
That is a terrifying weapon.
571
00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:36,240
It's thuggery, isn't it?
572
00:39:36,240 --> 00:39:38,880
I mean, it's just brutality at its very worst.
573
00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:49,920
Early afternoon.
574
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:55,480
Battle has now been raging for a gruelling five hours.
575
00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:03,200
Conscripts, mercenaries...
576
00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:05,520
..and nobles...
577
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:08,760
..on both sides fall...
578
00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:16,160
..including the very highest of Harold's Anglo-Saxon royal family.
579
00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:29,720
Harold's brother Gyrth was cut down.
580
00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:32,200
The Carmen says it was by William himself.
581
00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:39,840
Harold's great ally and adviser, Gyrth,
582
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:44,960
the brother who has stood by his side since before his coronation,
583
00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:49,560
right through the battles of Stamford Bridge and now Hastings...
584
00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:52,920
..is dead.
585
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:12,880
The afternoon wears on...
586
00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:17,720
..and William's cavalry continues to charge.
587
00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:26,000
But his archers are also still at work.
588
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,240
The very soldiers who began the battle...
589
00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:32,160
..are about to end it,
590
00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:35,240
bringing England to its knees.
591
00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:57,480
Harold has been King of England since the 6th of January.
592
00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:04,280
He has fought off a fearsome Viking invasion...
593
00:42:06,720 --> 00:42:09,760
..but he has given his all to defend his kingdom.
594
00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:19,880
Now, after just 281 days,
595
00:42:19,880 --> 00:42:23,240
England is once more without a king.
596
00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:39,120
The death of King Harold in 1066 is one of the most famous moments
597
00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:40,640
in all of British history.
598
00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:46,240
It lies at the heart of our nation's story,
599
00:42:46,240 --> 00:42:49,320
and is immortalised in the Bayeux Tapestry.
600
00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:54,160
But there's more to this great legend than it seems.
601
00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:04,480
The Chronicles aren't very clear about exactly how Harold died.
602
00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:08,440
It is a good 35 years after the conquest when we're told then
603
00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:11,320
that Harold was pierced by a lethal arrow,
604
00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:14,320
and then it is another 30 years when we get a bit more detail,
605
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:18,520
so William of Malmesbury, in his chronicle, tells us that it was a...
606
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:20,920
SHE SPEAKS LATIN
607
00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:23,240
It was an arrow which pierced his brain.
608
00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:28,840
And then ten years after that, another historian finally tells us
609
00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:31,800
that in fact Harold was killed by an arrow in his eye.
610
00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:37,800
And so it has taken a good 60 years for this apparently vital piece of
611
00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:41,120
information about Harold's death to finally be stated outright.
612
00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:48,600
Our very earliest source, the Carmen,
613
00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:51,680
written just months after the Battle of Hastings,
614
00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:53,640
tells a very different story.
615
00:43:56,360 --> 00:44:00,320
Another revelation that doesn't even involve an arrow at all.
616
00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:07,240
Instead, it describes a much, much nastier death for Harold.
617
00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:13,120
What it essentially says is that William sent in
618
00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:17,040
a dedicated death squad, deliberately to take Harold out.
619
00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:21,160
Now, it is unclear from the Latin whether William is personally
620
00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:25,400
part of that death squad but it does describe in detail the way Harold
621
00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:28,760
is supposed to have died. We're told that in the first place
622
00:44:28,760 --> 00:44:30,520
he is pierced in the chest.
623
00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:36,000
Secondly, his head is sliced from his shoulders.
624
00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:39,640
Thirdly, he is disembowelled.
625
00:44:41,240 --> 00:44:45,600
And fourthly and finally, it says...
626
00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:47,320
HE SPEAKS LATIN
627
00:44:48,720 --> 00:44:51,040
His "thigh" is removed.
628
00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:54,760
And almost certainly, that is a euphemism
629
00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:56,800
for his genitals being cut off.
630
00:44:56,800 --> 00:45:00,040
Now, this, even by medieval standards,
631
00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:04,480
is shockingly brutal behaviour to inflict on an anointed king.
632
00:45:07,800 --> 00:45:13,720
So, 950 years on, our popular image of the death of Harold
633
00:45:13,720 --> 00:45:15,160
could be wrong.
634
00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:23,240
Instead of a single arrow,
635
00:45:23,240 --> 00:45:28,560
a death squad sent to assassinate and then mutilate the English King.
636
00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:40,120
We'll never be absolutely certain how Harold died, but we can be
637
00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:43,000
fairly sure that his death marked a turning point.
638
00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:48,920
With Harold's death, the English army collapsed.
639
00:45:48,920 --> 00:45:51,840
An ordered defence had become a bloodbath...
640
00:45:54,640 --> 00:45:55,760
..and then a rout.
641
00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:00,720
The English tried to flee
642
00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:02,640
but the Normans hacked them down...
643
00:46:05,320 --> 00:46:06,680
..victorious.
644
00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:33,040
Amid the carnage of a spent battle, William sets up camp.
645
00:46:36,720 --> 00:46:38,600
He has meat cooked for him...
646
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:42,600
..and eats amongst the dead and the dying.
647
00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:53,360
There are several stories about what happened to Harold's corpse.
648
00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:56,560
One is that it was picked out on the battlefield by his mistress,
649
00:46:56,560 --> 00:46:58,160
Edith Swanneck.
650
00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:01,320
She was able to tell it apart, because of certain marks
651
00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:03,440
known only to herself.
652
00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:07,240
Another is that Harold's mother Githa offered Duke William
653
00:47:07,240 --> 00:47:09,880
the body's weight in gold for its return.
654
00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:13,440
But William refused.
655
00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:18,200
Some sources say that Harold was buried close
656
00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:22,160
to the battlefield itself, on a clifftop looking out to sea.
657
00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:25,560
We also have later records from Waltham Abbey, which claim that
658
00:47:25,560 --> 00:47:26,840
that is where he was buried -
659
00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:30,880
the monastery which he had built and endowed and enriched.
660
00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:32,920
And that's possible but dubious,
661
00:47:32,920 --> 00:47:35,480
partly because the last thing the Normans would have wanted
662
00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:38,440
would be to create the focal point for a cult of Harold.
663
00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:46,160
But it wasn't just Harold that died on this battlefield -
664
00:47:46,160 --> 00:47:49,360
the elite of England was annihilated.
665
00:47:49,360 --> 00:47:53,080
The Battle of Hastings marked the death of Anglo-Saxon England.
666
00:47:58,960 --> 00:48:01,520
Throughout the course of 1066,
667
00:48:01,520 --> 00:48:05,480
three great warlords had fought for the prized crown of England.
668
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:10,200
Harold Godwinson,
669
00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:13,560
the Viking Harald Hardrada,
670
00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:15,000
and William.
671
00:48:17,240 --> 00:48:20,960
Now only the Norman duke is left alive.
672
00:48:21,920 --> 00:48:24,680
Victory is at last his.
673
00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:28,560
But still, he is not yet a king.
674
00:48:39,640 --> 00:48:44,000
News of William's victory reaches Westminster in hours.
675
00:48:45,480 --> 00:48:49,240
The surviving English nobles must decide
676
00:48:49,240 --> 00:48:52,120
to submit to the Normans...
677
00:48:52,120 --> 00:48:54,280
or fight on.
678
00:48:54,280 --> 00:48:55,480
What do we do now?
679
00:48:56,520 --> 00:49:00,360
Well, we have a ready-made king.
680
00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:03,200
But you can't expect Edgar to defeat William in battle?
681
00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:06,880
But he is the heir. We must put right before might.
682
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:08,880
But you'd be throwing him to the wolves.
683
00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:10,240
What choice do we have?
684
00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:14,040
Drink this, sir.
685
00:49:15,280 --> 00:49:19,920
Just 10 months earlier, Harold had sidelined the teenage prince,
686
00:49:19,920 --> 00:49:22,720
Edward the Confessor's closest blood relative.
687
00:49:26,280 --> 00:49:29,960
Ever since, Edgar the Atheling had lived at court,
688
00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:34,440
untroubled and uninvolved in the dangerous politics surrounding him.
689
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:39,920
Now Edgar is the last, desperate hope.
690
00:49:41,080 --> 00:49:45,560
The remaining Anglo-Saxon nobles elect him to be their new King.
691
00:49:49,160 --> 00:49:52,120
Meanwhile, William waits in Hastings,
692
00:49:52,120 --> 00:49:54,280
expecting to be offered the crown.
693
00:49:56,240 --> 00:49:57,960
But two weeks pass...
694
00:49:59,400 --> 00:50:02,280
..and still no word comes from London.
695
00:50:06,400 --> 00:50:10,280
In our war room, only one historian is still standing.
696
00:50:11,680 --> 00:50:15,920
Clearly then, I am left with very little choice but to force them
697
00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:17,640
to submit to me.
698
00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:22,400
I'm going to have to do what I do best, so I take my army
699
00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:25,720
and I head east towards Dover.
700
00:50:25,720 --> 00:50:29,280
I attack it and then I move on Canterbury.
701
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:33,640
Both of them quickly and, I must say, sensibly, submit.
702
00:50:33,640 --> 00:50:37,320
Then it's on westwards towards London.
703
00:50:37,320 --> 00:50:41,000
At Southwark, the Londoners refused to allow me across the Thames.
704
00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:42,240
They block my access.
705
00:50:42,240 --> 00:50:45,720
It's frustrating and it is pointless because they have
706
00:50:45,720 --> 00:50:49,320
no prospect now of holding me off in the long run.
707
00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:54,600
I continue westwards until I reach a bridging point at Wallingford.
708
00:50:54,600 --> 00:50:59,240
Once I'm over the Thames, I head back east towards London.
709
00:51:04,040 --> 00:51:05,720
William and his army marched on.
710
00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:12,480
The nobles supporting Edgar quickly realised that any resistance
711
00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:13,960
was impossible.
712
00:51:20,800 --> 00:51:22,720
The end came here in Berkhamsted...
713
00:51:24,480 --> 00:51:26,720
..a market town in Hertfordshire,
714
00:51:26,720 --> 00:51:29,280
25 miles to the north-west of London.
715
00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:35,720
William marched his army along this road.
716
00:51:35,720 --> 00:51:38,600
Nowadays, it is Berkhamsted High Street, but back then
717
00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:41,840
it was the Roman road leading directly to the heart of London.
718
00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:44,680
William was getting closer and closer.
719
00:51:44,680 --> 00:51:47,440
It seemed like nothing could stop him now.
720
00:51:53,160 --> 00:51:55,840
William set up camp on this spot.
721
00:51:58,040 --> 00:52:01,360
And it was here in early December that the English leaders
722
00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:03,160
finally rode out from London...
723
00:52:04,760 --> 00:52:06,120
..to submit to him.
724
00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:10,400
Among the delegation that came here to Berkhamsted,
725
00:52:10,400 --> 00:52:14,040
there were senior clergy, nobles, even Edgar the Atheling,
726
00:52:14,040 --> 00:52:19,040
whose brief hopes of being king were now snuffed out.
727
00:52:19,040 --> 00:52:24,160
These surrendering Englishmen meekly requested of the Conqueror,
728
00:52:24,160 --> 00:52:25,840
would he be their new king?
729
00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:33,080
William road unopposed into London,
730
00:52:33,080 --> 00:52:36,680
and began to fully enforce Norman rule on England.
731
00:52:57,240 --> 00:53:00,960
Christmas Day, 1066.
732
00:53:05,680 --> 00:53:11,360
The illegitimate Duke William is anointed King William I.
733
00:53:14,080 --> 00:53:16,080
William the Conqueror.
734
00:53:24,040 --> 00:53:27,200
When the assembled crowd of English and Normans were asked
735
00:53:27,200 --> 00:53:29,640
whether it was their will that William be king,
736
00:53:29,640 --> 00:53:33,240
they cheered so loudly that the Norman guards positioned
737
00:53:33,240 --> 00:53:36,200
outside the abbey panicked and thought there was a riot.
738
00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:39,040
So they set fire to the surrounding houses.
739
00:53:47,280 --> 00:53:50,480
William's coronation is hurriedly concluded.
740
00:53:52,880 --> 00:53:56,840
But just as with all the mishaps that have beset him on his journey
741
00:53:56,840 --> 00:53:58,160
to the English throne...
742
00:53:59,720 --> 00:54:02,440
..William remains triumphant.
743
00:54:04,760 --> 00:54:08,440
William sat alone on his newly acquired throne,
744
00:54:08,440 --> 00:54:10,560
as Westminster burned around him.
745
00:54:11,880 --> 00:54:15,960
It was a fitting start to the bloody rule of the Normans.
746
00:54:21,840 --> 00:54:25,960
William's coronation was far from the end of his fight for control
747
00:54:25,960 --> 00:54:28,120
of England.
748
00:54:28,120 --> 00:54:31,840
There would be years of bloody rebellion, insurrection
749
00:54:31,840 --> 00:54:36,120
and instability, especially in the wild north.
750
00:54:40,240 --> 00:54:44,360
William built a secure operations base, the Tower of London.
751
00:54:48,360 --> 00:54:51,400
He ruthlessly destroyed any opposition,
752
00:54:51,400 --> 00:54:54,200
killing tens of thousands of ordinary people,
753
00:54:54,200 --> 00:54:57,240
and laying waste to huge swathes of the country.
754
00:55:01,160 --> 00:55:05,240
The chronicler Orderic Vitalis wrote that William was guilty
755
00:55:05,240 --> 00:55:09,680
of wholesale massacre and barbarous homicide.
756
00:55:09,680 --> 00:55:13,960
Eventually, he would replace any English nobleman left alive
757
00:55:13,960 --> 00:55:17,280
after the Battle of Hastings with his own Norman barons,
758
00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:20,840
taking the wealth and the land and giving it to his supporters.
759
00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:23,920
This was a Norman takeover.
760
00:55:23,920 --> 00:55:27,640
It was the biggest transfer in land ownership in English history.
761
00:55:28,920 --> 00:55:33,680
The old ruling class of England, the aristocracy, is swept clean away.
762
00:55:33,680 --> 00:55:35,880
So you have 10,000 Englishmen
763
00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:39,200
replaced by 10,000 Continental newcomers,
764
00:55:39,200 --> 00:55:42,440
who speak a different language and who have very different ideas
765
00:55:42,440 --> 00:55:45,440
in their head about the way society should be.
766
00:55:45,440 --> 00:55:48,520
The Norman invasion changes everything.
767
00:55:48,520 --> 00:55:50,880
Of course there's a new ruling dynasty,
768
00:55:50,880 --> 00:55:53,720
but there are more obvious signs of change,
769
00:55:53,720 --> 00:55:56,880
notably the architecture of the Normans.
770
00:55:56,880 --> 00:56:00,120
Suddenly we have these vast cathedrals and castles
771
00:56:00,120 --> 00:56:01,880
dominating the landscape.
772
00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:05,680
The language changes, the traditions, the laws.
773
00:56:05,680 --> 00:56:08,200
It's a sea change in England.
774
00:56:10,200 --> 00:56:13,400
And they bring ideas of how you treat human beings,
775
00:56:13,400 --> 00:56:16,840
they bring chivalry, they abolish slavery.
776
00:56:18,680 --> 00:56:20,280
In every respect,
777
00:56:20,280 --> 00:56:24,120
England is massively transformed by the Norman conquest.
778
00:56:24,120 --> 00:56:26,240
You know, forget about the English Civil War,
779
00:56:26,240 --> 00:56:29,600
forget about the Reformation - this is the single greatest change
780
00:56:29,600 --> 00:56:32,440
that England and the English ever experience.
781
00:56:36,200 --> 00:56:39,200
And it wasn't only England that was transformed.
782
00:56:42,280 --> 00:56:45,640
1066 saw the demise of the Anglo-Saxons...
783
00:56:49,360 --> 00:56:53,680
..but also the end of the great Viking age of conquest.
784
00:56:56,680 --> 00:57:00,840
From now on, England looked not north and east
785
00:57:00,840 --> 00:57:03,520
to Denmark and Scandinavia,
786
00:57:03,520 --> 00:57:06,320
but south to France and Rome.
787
00:57:08,680 --> 00:57:11,440
Europe had shifted on its axis.
788
00:57:14,800 --> 00:57:19,160
It had taken almost exactly one year for William to plan and execute
789
00:57:19,160 --> 00:57:20,600
his invasion of England.
790
00:57:28,960 --> 00:57:32,680
It would take him many more years to subdue the English people.
791
00:57:37,080 --> 00:57:39,800
Eventually he would return to Normandy
792
00:57:39,800 --> 00:57:41,720
to fight over his borders at home...
793
00:57:43,760 --> 00:57:46,000
..but England was now firmly Norman.
794
00:57:47,440 --> 00:57:48,880
Moving into a new future...
795
00:57:50,280 --> 00:57:53,080
..which left the Dark Ages far behind.
796
00:57:57,360 --> 00:58:00,160
William ended up spending most of his reign back in Normandy
797
00:58:00,160 --> 00:58:03,600
and it was there eventually, in 1087, that he died,
798
00:58:03,600 --> 00:58:07,600
a fat and bloated shadow of his former warrior self.
799
00:58:07,600 --> 00:58:11,400
It was the end of one of the most dramatic reigns in British history,
800
00:58:11,400 --> 00:58:15,200
a reigns that saw seismic changes to this country,
801
00:58:15,200 --> 00:58:19,240
the results of which, like William's great tower,
802
00:58:19,240 --> 00:58:21,320
we're still living with to this day.
66993
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