英國史第二集：Conquest（1000——1087）

[00:05.67]It was the hand of God that decided the outcome of battles, [00:10.53] [00:10.71]the fate of nations and the life or death of kings. [00:14.94] [00:15.11]Everyone knew that. [00:17.62] [00:19.75]It was winter, the season of frost and death. [00:24.30] [00:24.47]A king lay dying. His name was Edward the Confessor. [00:28.70] [00:28.87]He was dying childless and it wasn't obvious who would succeed him. [00:34.26] [00:34.43]As there was no heir, many thought they should be the next king, [00:38.82] [00:38.99]including foreign princes like Duke William of Normandy. [00:43.30] [00:43.87]Among those gathered round the bed of the dying Saxon king [00:48.18] [00:48.35]was the next most powerful man in England, Harold Godwineson [00:52.34] [00:52.51]and he thought the crown would look well on his head. [00:56.34] [00:56.51]He was hoping for a sign that King Edward felt the same way. [01:00.62] [01:02.35]Then Edward stretched out his hand and touched Harold. [01:06.74] [01:06.91]But was he giving him a blessing or a curse? [01:10.02] [01:10.19]Was this the hand of God making Harold king? [01:12.98] [01:13.15]Nobody knew for sure, but Harold had no qualms. [01:16.62] [01:16.71]He seized the crown. [01:18.66] [01:18.83]The question now was for how long would he keep it? [01:22.58] [01:24.51]Then, in the April sky, the hand of God showed itself as a comet, a hairy star, [01:32.30] [01:32.39]and everyone knew this was no blessing but an evil omen. [01:36.98] [01:37.19]The year was 1066. [01:39.86] [02:22.43]Historians like a quiet life and usually they get it. [02:26.66] [02:26.83]For the most part, history moves at a glacial pace, [02:29.90] [02:30.07]working its changes subtly. [02:32.63] [02:32.79]In Britain we like to think there's something about our history, [02:36.78] [02:36.95]like our climate, our landscape, that's naturally moderate, [02:40.70] [02:40.87]not given to earthquakes and revolutions. [02:44.74] [02:45.63]But there are times and places when history, British history, [02:49.58] [02:49.75]comes at you with a rush, violent, decisive, bloody - [02:54.61] [02:54.71]a truckload of trouble knocking you down, [02:57.01] [02:57.19]wiping out everything that gives you your bearings: [03:00.38] [03:00.55]Law, custom, loyalty and language. [03:03.98] [03:04.15]And this is one of those places. [03:07.30] [03:09.99]I know it doesn't look like the site of a national trauma. [03:14.18] [03:14.35]These days it looks more suitable for a county fair than a mass slaughter. [03:20.06] [03:20.23]But this is the battlefield of Hastings, [03:23.02] [03:23.19]and here one kind of England was annihilated [03:26.22] [03:26.39]and another kind of England was set up in its place. [03:29.98] [03:36.03]Some historians say that for most people of England [03:39.57] [03:39.75]Hastings didn't matter that much, [03:42.18] [03:42.35]that 1066 was mostly a matter of replacing Saxon lords with Norman knights. [03:48.90] [03:49.07]Peasants still ploughed their fields and paid taxes to the king, [03:52.42] [03:52.59]prayed to avoid poverty and pestilence [03:54.94] [03:55.11]and watched the seasons roll round. [03:57.57] [04:01.03]But the everyday can rub shoulders with the catastrophic. [04:05.94] [04:06.11]The grass grew green again, but there were bones beneath the buttercups [04:11.58] [04:11.75]and an entire governing class of the English had been dispossessed, [04:15.74] [04:15.91]their men, land and animals taken from them [04:18.94] [04:19.11]and given as spoils to the victorious foreigners. [04:23.10] [04:24.39]You could survive and still be English [04:27.34] [04:27.51]but now you belonged to an inferior race, the conquered. [04:31.50] [04:31.67]You lived in England but it was no longer your country. [04:36.18] [04:47.03]Anglo-Saxon England was no stranger to invasions. [04:51.10] [04:51.27]Viking raids had been part of life for a century, [04:54.06] [04:54.23]but since the days of Alfred the Great, [04:56.06] [04:56.23]it was a country stable enough to soak them up. [04:59.77] [04:59.95]Longboats came and went but still the king's law ran the shires. [05:04.66] [05:04.83]His churches and abbeys were built more beautifully than ever, [05:08.06] [05:08.23]and a town that would one day be called London [05:11.22] [05:11.39]was beginning to grow and prosper on the banks of the Thames. [05:15.14] [05:16.47]Then one invasion succeeded where the others had failed, [05:20.66] [05:20.83]and there was a Viking on the throne. His name was Canute, [05:24.61] [05:24.79]the man we remember for trying to hold back the tides. [05:27.98] [05:28.15]While he turned Anglo-Saxon England into part of his vast maritime empire, [05:33.01] [05:33.19]he went out of his way to change nothing. [05:36.18] [05:36.35]He even chose as his closest advisor [05:38.98] [05:39.15]one of the most powerful Anglo-Saxon nobles, Godwine, Earl of Wessex. [05:43.66] [05:43.83]A scheming, ruthless man, Godwine became [05:47.37] [05:47.55]virtual co-ruler with Canute over what was still [05:50.22] [05:50.39]recognisably Anglo-Saxon England. [05:53.42] [05:56.11]But with Canute's death in 1035 began a chain of events [06:00.34] [06:00.51]that would culminate in the one invasion [06:02.74] [06:02.91]that Anglo-Saxon England would be unable to swallow. [06:06.94] [06:07.11]And what a saga it was. [06:09.74] [06:10.47]It started with a bloody and unsparing fight for Canute's throne [06:15.02] [06:15.19]amongst the surviving elite. [06:17.30] [06:17.47]Treachery, murder and mutilation were par for the course. [06:20.98] [06:25.11]The last man standing with any kind of claim to the throne [06:28.54] [06:28.71]was a descendant of Alfred the Great, a prince of the Saxon royal house. [06:33.90] [06:34.07]Called Edward, he would become forever known as The Confessor. [06:38.14] [06:38.31]He was crowned on Easter Day, 1043. [06:41.98] [06:43.87]He inherited more than just the crown. [06:46.98] [06:47.15]He also got Earl Godwine, in no mood to lose power [06:50.82] [06:50.99]just because there was a new king. [06:53.18] [06:53.35]Unlike Canute, Edward had good reason to hate [06:55.91] [06:56.07]the right-hand man forced on him. [06:58.18] [06:58.35]For Godwine had arranged his older brother's murder. [07:02.18] [07:04.87]There was nothing he could do about his bloodstained rival, [07:07.94] [07:08.11]not yet anyway. [07:10.10] [07:10.27]He knew that Godwine held the keys to the kingdom. [07:13.26] [07:13.43]When Godwine offered Edward his daughter in marriage, [07:17.42] [07:17.59]what could he do but take her? [07:20.22] [07:23.31]Godwine was not Edward's only problem. [07:25.54] [07:25.71]He'd also to learn how to govern a country he knew little about. [07:29.46] [07:29.63]For he'd grown up in exile in a very different world [07:32.90] [07:33.07]across the English Channel in Normandy. [07:36.46] [07:43.51]We think of Edward the Confessor [07:45.66] [07:45.83]as the quintessential Anglo-Saxon king. [07:48.21] [07:48.39]In fact, he was almost as Norman as William the Conqueror. [07:52.30] [07:52.47]After all, his mother Emma was a Norman [07:55.70] [07:55.87]and he'd lived here in Normandy for 30 years, [07:58.46] [07:58.63]ever since she'd brought him as a child refugee from the wars [08:02.22] [08:02.39]between the Saxons and the Danes. [08:04.69] [08:04.87]But Normandy was not just an asylum for Edward, [08:08.82] [08:08.99]it was the place which formed him politically and culturally. [08:12.94] [08:13.11]His mother tongue was Norman French. [08:15.94] [08:16.11]His virtual godfathers were the formidable Dukes of Normandy. [08:20.50] [08:22.51]The Normans were descendants of Viking raiders, [08:25.86] [08:26.03]but had long since traded in their longboats for powerful war-horses. [08:30.58] [08:30.75]The Duchy of Normandy was in no sense just a piece of France. [08:35.10] [08:35.27]Though the Dukes did formal homage to the kings of France, [08:38.14] [08:38.31]they were fiercely independent, [08:40.94] [08:41.11]possessed of castles, patrons of churches. [08:44.65] [08:52.39]These warlords were constantly in the saddle [08:55.14] [08:55.31]imposing their will on vassals, [08:57.26] [08:57.43]fighting off revolts and forging shaky coalitions. [09:01.38] [09:01.55]But the duchy was also humming with energetic piety. [09:04.90] [09:05.07]In the 11th century, handsome stone monasteries and churches [09:08.42] [09:08.59]with Romanesque arches began to appear. [09:11.86] [09:12.03]Grandiose stone castles, as tough as the Norman lords who'd built them, [09:16.74] [09:16.91]became part of the landscape. [09:19.21] [09:25.43]So until the throne of England tempted him back [09:28.82] [09:28.99]across the Channel at the age of 36, [09:31.29] [09:31.47]this was Edward's home, and while he was here a child was growing up [09:36.59] [09:36.75]who would change the course of British history. [09:39.46] [09:42.03]It was at the site of this castle at Falles in 1027 [09:45.81] [09:45.99]that William, known to his contemporaries though not to his face [09:49.82] [09:49.99]as William the Bastard, was born. [09:52.62] [09:52.79]He was the illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy [09:55.98] [09:56.15]and the daughter of a tanner called Ellave. [09:59.06] [09:59.19]And in the cut-throat world of feudal Normandy, [10:02.18] [10:02.35]it was important that he learn, and quickly, how to survive. [10:06.34] [10:06.51]He was only a child when his father died on a pilgrimage [10:09.82] [10:09.99]to the Holy Land, leaving William, just eight years old, as his heir. [10:14.85] [10:15.03]A lamb thrown to the wolves. [10:17.10] [10:22.55]Certainly Edward would have known the young William. [10:26.22] [10:26.39]There were suggestions that he was one of the hand-picked companions [10:29.50] [10:29.67]entrusted by William's father, Duke Robert, [10:32.66] [10:32.75]with keeping an eye on the vulnerable young boy. [10:35.78] [10:36.99]He would have seen how William survived the traumas of his childhood, [10:41.06] [10:41.23]narrowly escaping assassination attempts; [10:43.98] [10:44.15]how William was forced, aged ten, to witness the brutal murder [10:48.54] [10:48.71]of his beloved steward in his bedchamber, before his very eyes. [10:53.46] [10:53.67]Edward must have marvelled at the way the stripling boy [10:57.18] [10:57.35]grew into a steely and ruthless young man, [11:00.46] [11:00.63]triumphing in battle over a formidable league of rebel nobles. [11:05.82] [11:10.79]While William was securing absolute power in Normandy, [11:14.10] [11:14.27]Edward was, by now, in the middle of a nervous reign, [11:17.70] [11:17.87]continually having to look over his shoulder [11:20.14] [11:20.31]at his biggest threat, Earl Godwine. [11:22.74] [11:22.91]In 1051, Edward seized his chance to rid himself of his rival. [11:27.90] [11:29.71]Edward brought over Norman allies, established them in castles, [11:34.14] [11:34.31]made one Archbishop of Canterbury. [11:36.98] [11:37.23]Feeling his moment had now come, he confronted Godwine [11:40.74] [11:40.91]with his brother's murder and threw him out of the country. [11:45.14] [11:45.55]His bid to rid himself of his sworn enemy failed miserably. [11:50.70] [11:50.87]In exile, the Earl of Wessex was just as dangerous as at home, [11:54.65] [11:54.83]and sailed back with a fleet to humiliate the king. [11:58.94] [12:01.27]Out went Edward's Norman cronies, [12:04.18] [12:04.35]back came the Godwines stronger than ever. [12:08.02] [12:11.79]Edward was now little more than a puppet king. [12:16.30] [12:16.47]He turned to the religious life, spending days [12:19.42] [12:19.59]in meditation and prayer, becoming at last, The Confessor, [12:23.74] [12:23.91]devoting himself to the foundation of his Benedictine abbey [12:28.18] [12:28.35]upstream of London, his "West Minster". [12:30.98] [12:31.75]Impotence though, has its uses. [12:35.34] [12:35.51]Godwine clearly had ambitions for the future. [12:38.18] [12:38.35]He'd foisted his daughter Edith on Edward [12:40.58] [12:40.75]to get a young Godwine as the next King of England. [12:44.53] [12:44.71]But Edward had his own ideas. [12:47.17] [12:47.35]Yes, he'd married Edith but he'd never sleep with her. [12:50.82] [12:50.99]His revenge would be her childlessness. [12:54.66] [12:58.79]Now Edward had an even more mischievous thought: [13:02.02] [13:02.19]"All right, if Godwine wants an heir to the throne so badly [13:06.22] [13:06.39]"I'll give him one but one more to my liking." [13:09.50] [13:09.67]It's at this point, Norman chroniclers claimed, [13:12.70] [13:12.87]that Edward apparently promised the succession [13:15.54] [13:15.71]to the Duke of Normandy, William the Bastard. [13:19.66] [13:20.51]Of course, nobody knew of this in England, [13:23.46] [13:23.63]least of all Godwine, who in 1053 died suddenly of a stroke [13:28.78] [13:28.95]while at dinner with the king. [13:30.94] [13:31.11]There were plenty of other Godwines to step into the Godfather's place. [13:35.70] [13:35.87]His sons now took over where he left off, [13:39.18] [13:39.35]controlling England virtually unchallenged. [13:42.14] [13:42.31]And presiding over the family empire was the eldest son, Harold. [13:47.22] [13:50.15]Harold Godwineson seemed to have everything: [13:53.74] [13:53.91]Land, power, riches, charisma, an aristocratic wife [13:56.94] [13:57.11]and a supporting troop of loyal and clever brothers. [14:00.42] [14:00.59]He even managed to make himself patron of churches, [14:03.54] [14:03.71]like this one at Bosham in Sussex. [14:05.98] [14:06.59]And though he didn't dare make too brazen a move, [14:09.50] [14:09.67]any dispassionate observer arriving in England in the early 1060s [14:13.98] [14:14.15]would have to conclude that once Edward was gone [14:16.58] [14:16.75]the throne was Harold's for the taking. [14:19.62] [14:19.79]All at once an ill wind blew away this fair-weather vision. [14:25.58] [14:31.39]It started with a voyage that no one can explain, even to this day. [14:37.06] [14:37.23]In 1064, Harold and a group of men set sail for Normandy. [14:42.66] [14:42.83]Maybe it was to rescue his younger brother, Wulfstan, [14:46.10] [14:46.27]who had been taken hostage by William. [14:48.57] [14:48.75]For the Norman chroniclers, the journey could only have one purpose. [14:53.06] [14:53.23]Harold was confirming Edward's offer of the crown. [14:56.85] [15:00.43]Why would Harold do something so against his own best interests? [15:04.90] [15:06.83]Perhaps that's why it makes up the first bit of the story [15:10.10] [15:10.27]of the most grandiose piece of Norman propaganda, [15:13.34] [15:13.51]the 70-metre long Bayeux Tapestry. [15:17.02] [15:18.11]The tapestry was commissioned by William's half-brother, [15:21.10] [15:21.27]Bishop Odo of Bayeux, a few years after the conquest. [15:25.22] [15:25.39]It may have been made by English embroiders in Canterbury, [15:29.66] [15:29.83]who were regarded as the most skilled stitchers in Europe. [15:34.02] [15:34.19]Who else would have made such a glamorous hero? [15:37.34] [15:46.51]Something seems to have gone wrong in the Channel, perhaps a storm. [15:50.98] [15:51.15]Landing in the territory of Guy of Ponthieu, [15:53.82] [15:53.99]they were arrested and handed over to Guy's liege lord, [15:57.10] [15:57.27]William of Normandy. [15:59.02] [16:03.07]The embroiderers make it dramatically clear that Harold and his men [16:07.50] [16:07.67]now find themselves in an alien world. [16:10.62] [16:10.79]The Saxons are moustachioed at this stage of the story, [16:13.90] [16:14.07]rather fine-looking, with a certain air about them, [16:16.63] [16:16.79]despite their predicament. [16:18.42] [16:19.75]The Normans, by contrast, shave the backs of their heads. [16:23.74] [16:24.07]They're the scary half-skinheads of the early feudal world. [16:28.18] [16:30.83]Realising his lucky number has come up, [16:33.42] [16:33.59]William can afford to be all charm and generosity to his prisoner, [16:38.34] [16:38.51]cleverly bringing him into his military entourage. [16:42.42] [16:44.43]William took Harold on campaign with him in Brittany, [16:47.18] [16:47.51]where Harold returns the favour by rescuing two of William's soldiers [16:51.74] [16:51.91]from the quicksands of Mont Saint Michel, [16:54.58] [16:54.75]one on his left arm, one on his back. [16:59.26] [17:04.31]His hospitality is steel-tipped. He makes Harold one of his knights, [17:10.06] [17:10.23]a solemn ceremonious business involving a two-way obligation. [17:15.09] [17:16.87]William, now his liege lord, would be obliged [17:19.58] [17:19.75]to protect Harold, his new knight. [17:22.34] [17:22.51]Harold would have had to make his own promises, and there seems no doubt [17:26.70] [17:26.87]he did swear some sort of oath to the Duke. [17:30.70] [17:30.87]To the medieval mind, there was nothing more serious than an oath, [17:35.86] [17:36.03]and the tapestry maker makes it clear that this was a religious act [17:39.70] [17:39.87]by having a witness point to the word "Sacramentum". [17:43.98] [17:44.15]His oath was a kind of sacrament as it went to the heart of the matter. [17:49.46] [17:49.63]What would happen to England after Edward died? [17:53.66] [17:55.31]The English said that Harold agreed to be William's man [17:59.18] [17:59.35]only in Normandy and that it had no bearing on the English succession. [18:04.42] [18:05.07]The Norman chroniclers, though, said Harold had sworn [18:08.54] [18:08.71]to help William take the throne of England. [18:11.98] [18:14.79]The oath became even more binding when in a cheap theatrical trick [18:19.26] [18:19.43]the cloth was whipped from the table over which Harold had sworn. [18:23.21] [18:23.39]Underneath was revealed a reliquary containing the bones of a saint. [18:29.18] [18:36.75]Well, how much trouble was he in now? [18:40.02] [18:40.19]Had Harold promised something he couldn't deliver, [18:42.65] [18:42.83]or had he made no promises at all about the English crown? [18:46.06] [18:46.23]Norman chroniclers like to imagine the returning Harold [18:49.46] [18:49.63]haunted by guilt, saying one thing but doing another. [18:53.66] [19:00.67]In England, there was no sign of a queasy conscience at all. [19:05.06] [19:05.23]To get his hands on the crown, Harold now did something [19:08.90] [19:09.07]inconceivable for a Godwine, something which [19:12.69] [19:12.87]one day would have disastrous consequences. [19:16.18] [19:16.35]He sold his own brother, Tostig, down the river. [19:20.86] [19:24.91]Tostig was the Earl of Northumbria and also the family hothead, [19:29.98] [19:30.15]and had managed to provoke a northern rebellion against him. [19:33.66] [19:33.83]He'd been fleecing abbeys and monasteries, [19:36.54] [19:36.71]creating his own private army and acting like a greedy tyrannical brat. [19:41.34] [19:42.31]Inevitably, the local nobles rose against him, [19:45.50] [19:45.67]declared him outlaw and put in their own man to be the new earl. [19:49.82] [19:51.15]Harold was sent by King Edward to sort out the mess [19:54.50] [19:54.67]and was immediately faced with two tough choices. [19:58.06] [19:58.23]He could back his younger brother Tostig against the rebels, [20:01.74] [20:01.91]but that might create a civil war. [20:04.37] [20:05.15]Or he could forget about blood ties and support Tostig's enemies. [20:09.62] [20:09.79]In return, they might feel grateful enough [20:12.42] [20:12.51]to offer him their crucial support [20:14.78] [20:14.87]when the time came for him to make his bid for the English throne. [20:19.38] [20:21.19]In the end, Harold put ambition before brotherly love. [20:25.38] [20:25.55]He threw out Tostig and replaced him with the Earl Morcar. [20:29.09] [20:29.27]Harold had broken Godwine clan solidarity [20:32.78] [20:32.95]and turned his own brother into a mortal enemy. [20:36.38] [20:39.23]It was this merciless war of brothers which in the end [20:42.70] [20:42.87]cost Harold his throne and his life. [20:45.90] [20:46.07]More than anything, it was the cause of death of Anglo-Saxon England. [20:50.93] [20:54.23]The winter of 1065 was marked by tremendous gales [20:58.46] [20:58.63]which destroyed churches and uprooted great trees. [21:03.30] [21:04.31]As King Edward the Confessor lay on his deathbed, [21:07.30] [21:07.47]he was visited by a strange and terrible dream [21:10.90] [21:11.07]which he insisted on relating to all who gathered around him. [21:15.54] [21:17.19]Two monks came to my deathbed and told me [21:20.78] [21:20.95]that because of the sins of its people [21:22.94] [21:23.11]God had given England to evil spirits. [21:25.41] [21:26.51]I said, "Will God not have mercy?" And they replied, [21:29.86] [21:30.03]"Not until a growing tree, cleft in two by a lightning storm [21:34.70] [21:34.87]"should come together of its own accord and grow green again. [21:39.02] [21:39.19]"Only then will there be pardon." [21:42.30] [21:52.03]But no one paid much attention to the ravings of an old man. [21:55.78] [21:55.95]What was much more important [21:57.86] [21:58.03]was that Edward had touched Harold's hand. [22:01.06] [22:06.59]The king had fallen short of actually declaring him his heir [22:10.98] [22:11.15]but it was enough of a sign for Harold [22:13.34] [22:13.51]and the northern earls who supported him. [22:16.42] [22:17.87]On January 6th 1066, Westminster saw the funeral of one king in the morning [22:23.94] [22:24.11]and the coronation of another in the afternoon. [22:27.70] [22:28.79]There are two Harolds depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, [22:32.38] [22:32.55]but which was the real one - [22:34.82] [22:34.99]the confident king who issued coins bearing the optimistic slogan "Pax", [22:38.90] [22:39.07]the Latin for peace, [22:40.78] [22:40.95]or the guilty, twisted usurper, stricken by omens, haunted by a vision of ships? [22:47.94] [22:52.43]The phantom fleet which the embroiderers set in a border of the tapestry [22:56.50] [22:56.67]suggests Harold could all too well imagine the reaction [22:59.94] [23:00.11]across the Channel to his coronation. [23:03.06] [23:05.79]A Norman historian has William hearing the news while out hunting. [23:09.98] [23:11.83]When the Duke heard the news, he became as a man outraged. [23:15.02] [23:15.19]Oft he tied his mantle, oft he untied it and spoke to no man. [23:19.82] [23:19.99]Neither dared any man speak to him. [23:23.06] [23:24.51](HOWLING) [23:27.34] [23:31.27]For ten years, William had confidently let it be known throughout Europe [23:35.50] [23:35.67]that he'd soon add England to his territories. [23:38.66] [23:38.83]He was now in a lethally dangerous position of looking ridiculous. [23:43.34] [23:44.27]He consulted his feudal magnates in a series of assemblies [23:48.10] [23:48.19]and by no means all of them were particularly thrilled [23:51.14] [23:51.31]with the idea of an invasion of England. [23:54.14] [23:54.31]The risks seemed a lot more daunting [23:56.69] [23:56.87]than the enticement of new lands and wealth. [24:00.02] [24:00.95]So the Duke went to strategy number two, [24:03.94] [24:04.11]turning the matter into an international crusade. [24:07.81] [24:07.99]Couldn't the Pope see that his cause was just, [24:11.26] [24:11.43]that Harold was an infamous oath breaker, a despoiler of churches? [24:15.74] [24:15.91]William on the other hand was a builder of abbeys, [24:18.70] [24:18.87]a protector of bishops against bullying barons. [24:21.46] [24:21.63]It was completely absurd and it worked like a dream. [24:25.94] [24:26.11]The Pope was won over, gave William his Papal blessing [24:29.62] [24:29.79]and invested him with his ring and banner. [24:33.22] [24:38.51]It was now much more than a dynastic feud. [24:42.02] [24:42.19]William used the consecration of his wife's abbey, [24:44.94] [24:45.11]here at La Trinite in Caen, [24:47.38] [24:47.55]to proclaim a crusade against the infidel Harold. [24:51.02] [24:52.31]The barons who'd fought shy of risking their necks [24:55.30] [24:55.47]on the Duke's personal vendetta [24:57.98] [24:58.15]now flocked to join the legions of the blessed. [25:01.22] [25:05.83]The Bayeux Tapestry shows work immediately got under way [25:09.14] [25:09.31]to build an awe-inspiring expeditionary force. [25:12.66] [25:12.83]Rows of Normandy trees went down to the axe [25:15.26] [25:15.43]to emerge as 400 dragon-headed ships. [25:19.58] [25:24.03]Loaded onto the ships were coats of mail, bows, arrows, spears [25:28.78] [25:28.95]and the most indispensable item of all, vast casks of wine. [25:34.70] [25:34.87]Packed so tightly into the boats they supported each other, [25:37.94] [25:38.11]were perhaps 6,000 horses, three for each knight. [25:43.02] [25:52.91]Across the Channel, Harold responded [25:55.98] [25:56.15]by proving that he too was a phenomenal military organiser. [26:00.10] [26:00.27]As the crack troops of his army, Harold could call on the elite [26:03.97] [26:04.15]of perhaps 3,000 "huscarls", professional soldiers [26:08.18] [26:08.35]trained to handle a two-handed axe that, if swung right, [26:12.05] [26:12.23]could slice through a horse and its rider at one blow. [26:16.82] [26:16.99]The core of the army was 5,000 Thanes - or noblemen - of England. [26:21.62] [26:21.79]In addition there were the 13,000 part-time soldiers, the "fyrd", [26:27.70] [26:27.87]mobilised by their lords, obliged to give the king [26:30.90] [26:31.07]two months service each year. [26:33.63] [26:35.71]With amazing speed, this army was stationed along the south coast. [26:40.34] [26:41.67]By August 10th, William had his army in place along the Normandy coast. [26:47.18] [26:47.35]Two great fighting forces bent on each other's annihilation [26:51.78] [26:51.95]faced each other across a little strip of water [26:54.90] [26:55.07]to determine the destiny of England. [26:58.14] [27:02.07]And there they sat, [27:03.86] [27:04.03]William waiting for a southerly wind that never came, [27:07.22] [27:07.39]and Harold waiting for William, who never came. [27:11.38] [27:15.43]This waiting was particularly serious for Harold. [27:19.18] [27:19.35]By the first week in September he'd kept the fyrd in battle position [27:22.94] [27:23.11]for at least two weeks longer than their two-month obligation. [27:27.10] [27:30.83]What's more, it was now harvest time. [27:34.26] [27:34.43]So, with who knows what misgivings and uneasiness, [27:37.54] [27:37.71]on September the 8th Harold demobilised the fyrd [27:41.10] [27:41.27]and sent the soldiers home. [27:43.90] [27:47.07]He was right to feel uneasy. Just eleven days later [27:51.34] [27:51.51]Harold had a very nasty shock - his younger brother was back. [27:57.10] [27:57.27]Tostig, together with the Norwegian king, Harold Hardrada, [28:01.05] [28:01.23]had landed in Northumbria with as many as 12,000 men. [28:05.34] [28:05.51]Tostig had spent his time in exile looking for allies [28:09.42] [28:09.59]to pursue his vendetta against Harold. [28:11.74] [28:11.91]It was a coup for him that he'd enlisted the support [28:15.42] [28:15.59]of the awesome King of Norway. [28:18.05] [28:18.23]Hardrada was quite simply the most feared warrior of the age. [28:22.82] [28:22.99]Built like a Norwegian cliff face, [28:25.66] [28:25.83]he had the reputation for super-human strength [28:28.98] [28:29.15]and elaborately creative cruelty. [28:32.22] [28:32.39]Hardrada also had a flimsy claim to the English throne [28:35.93] [28:36.11]that went back to Canute, and he wasn't one to flinch [28:39.02] [28:39.19]at a military challenge that could win him the disputed crown. [28:43.54] [28:48.07]Harold Hardrada sailed southwest from Norway on August the 12th. [28:52.22] [28:52.39]En route, he stopped here in the Viking earldom of the Orkneys [28:57.33] [28:57.51]to pick up yet more men and ships [29:00.14] [29:00.31]to add to his already formidable fleet. [29:02.50] [29:02.67]Expectations must have been high. [29:05.86] [29:06.03]The Norsemen could almost smell triumph in the summer winds. [29:09.90] [29:10.07]There would have been feasting, singing and the reading of poems, [29:14.98] [29:15.15]some of them doubtless written by Hardrada himself. [29:17.94] [29:18.11]And it may be here that Tostig joined the Viking fleet. [29:22.94] [29:23.03]If he did and looked out and saw the 300 ships, [29:27.02] [29:27.19]his little heart must have skipped a beat [29:29.86] [29:30.03]to think of the catastrophe awaiting his brother. [29:33.18] [29:33.35]Together, Tostig and Hardrada would be unstoppable, invincible. [29:38.78] [29:38.95]Or would they? [29:40.70] [29:48.39]Landing on the Northumbrian coast, the Viking army headed for York, [29:52.94] [29:53.11]where it fought off the northern earls to take control of the city. [29:57.70] [29:58.75]Complacent with victory, Hardrada and Tostig travelled [30:01.50] [30:01.67]with just one third of the army, eight miles east of York, [30:05.14] [30:05.31]to Stamford Bridge, where they'd arranged to collect 500 hostages. [30:10.54] [30:12.67]What they saw on the banks of the River Derwent [30:15.62] [30:15.79]was not a forlorn group of hostages but a massive army, [30:19.94] [30:20.11]their weapons glittering like sheets of ice, as the Viking bard put it. [30:25.10] [30:25.27]Tostig knew it meant trouble. [30:28.14] [30:28.31]It was his big brother. [30:30.94] [30:31.87]Getting his army in position to surprise the Norsemen [30:34.94] [30:35.11]was an epic feat by any standards. [30:37.38] [30:37.55]Harold had travelled from London, picking up his army on the way, [30:41.62] [30:41.79]covering 187 miles in four days - 37 to 45 miles a day. [30:47.74] [30:47.91]Imagine then, thousands of men going as fast as their horses, [30:52.70] [30:52.87]or, in many cases, as fast as their legs could carry them. [30:56.41] [30:56.59]Up the Great North Road to Peterborough, Lincoln, Tadcaster. [31:00.70] [31:00.87]The ultimate high-impact hike with the heaviest backpacks imaginable. [31:05.70] [31:05.79]At the end of it, Harold fought [31:08.74] [31:08.91]one of the bloodiest battles in English history. [31:12.26] [31:12.43](SHOUTS AND CRIES) [31:15.42] [31:35.83]It was the English who broke the Viking line, [31:38.86] [31:39.03]and the remaining Norse warriors cowered around their chiefs. [31:42.81] [31:42.99]We must imagine the great Hardrada swinging his axe beneath the Landvaster flag, [31:48.01] [31:48.19]before finally sinking down with an arrow in the throat; [31:52.50] [31:52.67]Tostig picking up the Raven flag and, in his turn, being cut down. [31:58.18] [32:06.67]The carnage was so complete that it took just 24 of the 300 ships [32:13.06] [32:13.23]that had sailed to England to return the pitiful remnant [32:16.98] [32:17.15]of the Norse army back to Norway. [32:20.02] [32:23.95]In a final act of respect, Harold found his dead brother [32:27.70] [32:27.87]and took what was left of him to be buried at York Minster. [32:32.58] [32:35.95]He had no time to grieve or exalt over the death of Tostig, [32:40.74] [32:40.91]for the day after the Battle of Stamford Bridge, the Norman fleet, [32:44.94] [32:45.11]at last, felt the wind change direction. [32:48.89] [32:51.35]So, with great haste, the Duke went to sea, [32:54.46] [32:54.63]with his fleet sailing swiftly to the coast of England. [32:58.46] [33:07.63]Their first sight of land would have been the cliffs at Beachy Head, [33:11.54] [33:11.71]and they landed in the nearby sheltering harbours at Pevensey. [33:15.78] [33:17.27]An old Roman fort guarded the beach. [33:19.86] [33:20.03]Within its empty shell, William's men erected [33:22.86] [33:23.03]a prefabricated timber castle, later to be rebuilt in stone, [33:27.66] [33:27.83]as if declaring that they were now heirs to the Romans. [33:31.18] [33:35.07]Expeditions for food and forage from the base camp [33:38.61] [33:38.79]took the usual form, burning everything that couldn't be seized, [33:42.14] [33:42.31]striking terror into the hearts of the locals. [33:45.42] [33:49.39]One of the most unforgettable details in the entire Bayeux Tapestry [33:53.90] [33:54.07]is this seemingly incidental detail of a mother and child turned refugee, [33:59.70] [33:59.87]fleeing from their burning house, maybe even Hastings, [34:04.86] [34:05.55]resigned to their fate, not looking back. [34:07.98] [34:08.15]This is the first of the images that will echo through European art; [34:13.30] [34:13.47]through Rubens, Goya and Picasso's Guernica, [34:16.34] [34:16.51]of the victims of war, of civilians, of innocence. [34:21.42] [34:24.51]William soon discovered there was no easy route from Pevensey to London. [34:29.06] [34:29.23]The country behind the town was waterlogged, [34:31.69] [34:31.87]crossed by little river valleys that fed into the sea. [34:35.02] [34:35.19]But there was one old Anglo-Saxon trail that could take him [34:39.34] [34:39.51]to the Roman road north through Kent, [34:41.81] [34:41.99]and it was for mastery of this ancient, muddy, rutted track, [34:46.10] [34:46.27]that the most gruelling battle in early British history would be fought. [34:50.90] [34:52.71]Having beaten back the threat of the Vikings and his own brother, [34:56.66] [34:56.83]it must have seemed inconceivable to Harold [34:59.42] [34:59.59]that he'd have to do it all over again within a week or two. [35:03.70] [35:03.87]It would not be easy. Who could he call on? [35:06.74] [35:06.91]The bruised and battered remains of his army. [35:09.82] [35:09.99]It would be a long shot, but after Stamford Bridge [35:13.38] [35:13.55]perhaps Harold felt he could actually trust his gambler's luck. [35:17.42] [35:17.59]Besides, William's public name-calling - Harold the Perjured, [35:22.34] [35:22.51]Harold the Oath Breaker, Harold the Perfidious - [35:24.97] [35:25.15]had made it personal now, a mortal duel. [35:28.58] [35:28.75]Let the hand of God decide the righteous party, who would prevail. [35:33.69] [35:39.91]Harold left London at full speed. [35:42.62] [35:42.79]He gathered what he could of a new army by an old grey apple tree, [35:47.54] [35:47.71]an ancient blasted tree that stood on a hill [35:50.82] [35:50.99]at the crossing of the track leading out of Hastings. [35:54.14] [35:54.31]There Harold planted his banner, "The Dragon of Wessex". [35:58.22] [35:58.39]The Normans called this place "Senlach", meaning "Lake of Blood". [36:04.46] [36:05.35](CHANTING) [36:07.65] [36:14.91]Imagine yourself on the morning of Saturday 14th October, 1066. [36:21.17] [36:21.35]You're a Saxon warrior, a huscarl as it happens, [36:24.94] [36:25.11]and you've survived Stamford Bridge. [36:27.70] [36:27.87]You know your position here couldn't be better. [36:31.22] [36:31.39]You stand on the brow of the hill and look down [36:34.14] [36:34.31]hundreds of yards away at the opposition. [36:37.02] [36:37.19]You only have to prevent the Normans breaking through to the London road. [36:42.62] [36:42.79]They have the horses but they have to ride them uphill. [36:46.86] [36:47.43]You look along the hillside to see a densely-packed crowd of Englishmen. [36:52.06] [36:52.23]At the front are the huscarls, [36:54.26] [36:54.43]a wall of solid shields, and with them the axemen. [36:57.86] [36:58.03]Behind them the part-timers, the fighting farmers, [37:01.50] [37:01.67]who must have time to find their courage. [37:04.62] [37:06.99]At the foot of the hill you can hear the whinnying of Norman horses... [37:11.14] [37:12.71]...and what sounds like the chanting of psalms. [37:16.70] [37:19.23]You're a Norman foot-soldier and you hope to God [37:22.26] [37:22.43]the gentlemen on horses know what they're doing. [37:24.89] [37:25.07]All around you can hear the scraping of metal, [37:27.86] [37:28.03]the sharpening of blades, the mounting of horses. [37:31.22] [37:31.39]You look up to the brow of the hill [37:33.54] [37:33.71]and you see a glittering line of men and you cross yourself. [37:37.25] [37:37.43]You finger the rings on your coat of mail, your hawberg, [37:40.82] [37:40.99]and wonder how solid they are. [37:43.50] [37:43.67]You wonder what use they'll be against an axe. [37:46.26] [37:46.43]You've never seen axes in battle before. [37:49.18] [37:49.35]Then you catch sight of the Papal banner and take heart. [37:53.13] [37:53.31]Surely God is on your side. [37:56.74] [37:59.91]The real beginning must be imagined as the cavalry raced up the hill, [38:03.78] [38:03.95]one by one getting into range, hearing the rhythmic chant [38:07.82] [38:07.99]of "Oot, Oot!" - Out, Out! - from the Saxons, [38:11.22] [38:11.39]and then hurling their javelins at the front line. [38:14.58] [38:17.39]Then came the slow advance of the archers, [38:20.10] [38:20.27]unloosing their first arrows under a hail of enemy spears. [38:24.42] [38:30.19]And finally the foot-soldiers breaking into a run behind them. [38:34.70] [38:39.19]Then there was just the murderous smashing and crashing of horses, [38:43.14] [38:43.31]the slicing and thrusting of weapons, [38:45.69] [38:45.87]the screams, cries of the wounded and dying. [38:49.34] [38:54.31]If the axeman stood firm against the oncoming horse [38:57.34] [38:57.51]he'd still only get one good swing. If he missed, [39:00.78] [39:00.95]he was left open to the slash of the sword from the rider above. [39:05.50] [39:12.99]The initial success of the English threatened their downfall. [39:17.46] [39:17.63]On the left flank of William's army, horses stumbled and retreated. [39:21.66] [39:21.83]The right flank of Harold's army, [39:23.82] [39:23.99]many of them inexperienced fyrdmen, decided to chase them down the hill. [39:28.50] [39:29.27]But Harold, always conservative in his tactics, [39:32.34] [39:32.51]refused to allow others to follow. [39:34.62] [39:34.79]He seems to have lost momentary control of his troops, [39:38.74] [39:38.91]who couldn't resist following the horsemen, [39:41.50] [39:41.67]elated by the thought that the Duke of Normandy was lost. [39:45.74] [39:45.91]But William threw back his helmet to prove he was very much alive. [39:50.14] [39:50.87]He rallied the ranks of the Norman centre round the rear of the pursuing Saxons [39:55.22] [39:55.39]and set about slicing them to pieces. [39:58.66] [40:05.19]The battle wasn't over yet. [40:07.34] [40:07.51]It was going to take at least six hours to decide. [40:10.98] [40:15.67]The Bayeux Tapestry is shockingly explicit [40:18.50] [40:18.67]in exposing the extent of the carnage and mutilation. [40:22.45] [40:27.11]But it was the English army that was eventually, and very, very slowly, [40:31.18] [40:31.35]ground down. [40:33.06] [40:33.15]William began exploiting weak points, [40:35.34] [40:35.43]settling into an alternating rhythm of archers and cavalry. [40:39.58] [40:39.75]The arrows now shot high into the air and fell, [40:43.45] [40:43.63]not onto the front line but the heads of the unprotected men behind them. [40:48.78] [40:51.99]How did Harold himself die? [40:54.34] [40:54.51]Lately there has been an attempt to read the death scene in the Tapestry [40:58.82] [40:58.99]as though he was the figure cut down by the horseman, [41:02.14] [41:02.31]not the warrior pulling the arrow out of his eye, [41:05.70] [41:05.87]the story you and I grew up with. [41:07.86] [41:08.03]It seems to me perfectly clear that the words "Harold Rex" [41:11.98] [41:12.15]occur directly and significantly above the arrow-struck figure. [41:16.98] [41:19.47]Then certainly the knights would have been on him, cutting him down, [41:23.98] [41:24.15]leaving him disembowelled. [41:26.71] [41:28.03]The Thanes bravely mounted a last stand, [41:30.70] [41:30.87]defending the body of their king, but for many it was a lost cause. [41:35.78] [41:35.95]It was time to save one's neck, to get out of the way. [41:39.46] [41:42.23]There are such sad stories of what follows, [41:45.18] [41:45.35]and perhaps some of them are true. [41:47.38] [41:47.55]One of them has Harold's lover, Edith Swan Neck, [41:50.38] [41:50.55]walking through the heaps of gory corpses to identify the dead king [41:54.82] [41:54.99]by marks on his body, known only to her. [41:59.30] [42:00.99]What we do know is that around half the nobility of England [42:04.90] [42:05.07]perished on that battlefield. [42:07.66] [42:27.35]William had sworn that should God give him the victory [42:30.66] [42:30.83]he would build a great abbey of thanksgiving at the exact spot [42:35.02] [42:35.19]where Harold had planted his flag, and here it is - [42:38.38] [42:38.55]a statement, if ever there was one, of pious jubilation. [42:43.74] [42:46.07]But William had to make sure he'd won not just a single battle [42:49.61] [42:49.79]but the war for England. [42:52.06] [42:52.23]This was done in the time-honoured way, cutting a swathe of fire, rape and plunder [42:56.78] [42:56.95]through the countryside of south-east England. [42:59.78] [42:59.95]One by one the Anglo-Saxon cities folded. [43:04.30] [43:05.59]William was crowned at Westminster on Christmas Day 1066. [43:11.42] [43:11.59]But the event was more like a shambles than a triumph. [43:14.74] [43:16.99]At the shout of acclamation, the Norman soldiers stationed outside [43:21.18] [43:21.35]thought a riot had started, to which their response was [43:24.30] [43:24.47]to burn down every house in sight. [43:27.26] [43:28.03]As fighting broke out, many inside the Abbey, [43:30.78] [43:30.95]smelling smoke, rushed outside. [43:34.26] [43:34.91]The ceremony was completed in a half empty interior, [43:39.93] [43:40.11]with William, for the first time in his life, seen to be shaking like a leaf. [43:45.42] [43:48.63]When he emerged from the smoke and chaos of the coronation, [43:52.10] [43:52.27]just what kind of king did the surviving remnant of the old governing class [43:56.10] [43:56.27]imagine they had? [43:58.26] [43:58.43]Did they fondly suppose he was going to be another Canute, [44:01.94] [44:02.11]who now that he'd won, would disband his army and send them home? [44:06.50] [44:06.67]If they did, they were in for a very nasty shock, [44:10.90] [44:11.07]because even if William had wanted to do this, it was quite impossible. [44:15.22] [44:15.39]His whole campaign had been based on the promise of the lure of land, [44:20.38] [44:20.55]the pledge to hand over Saxon land on a golden plate of conquest. [44:26.34] [44:28.07]So there was never the remotest chance that William [44:30.63] [44:30.79]was going to be another Canute and assimilate himself [44:33.42] [44:33.59]into the world of Anglo-Saxon England. [44:36.10] [44:36.27]His conquest turned the country around. [44:38.83] [44:38.99]England's orientation now was south, [44:41.78] [44:41.95]away from Scandinavia and towards continental Europe. [44:46.62] [44:50.63]The part of the country offering most resistance [44:53.14] [44:53.31]was the north of England, which still retained strong Viking sympathies. [44:57.42] [44:57.59]Just three years into William's reign, York opened its gates [45:00.90] [45:01.07]to King Swein of Denmark, hailing him as a liberator [45:04.69] [45:04.87]from the new king of England. [45:07.30] [45:09.87]William's response was to mount a campaign of oppression in the north [45:14.38] [45:14.55]which was not just punitive but an exercise in mass murder - [45:19.18] [45:19.35]thousands of men and boys gruesomely butchered, [45:22.06] [45:22.23]their bodies left to rot and fester in the highways. [45:26.58] [45:31.39]Every town and village burnt without pity. [45:34.38] [45:34.55]Fields and livestock destroyed so completely [45:37.50] [45:37.67]that any survivors were doomed to die in a great famine. [45:41.42] [45:44.83]Hard on the heels of massacre and starvation came plague. [45:49.74] [45:51.39]All across England, William built at least 90 castles, [45:54.98] [45:55.15]dominating areas of potential revolt, [45:58.30] [45:58.47]engines of terror that helped William control over two million Saxons [46:03.22] [46:03.39]with just 25,000 Normans. [46:06.74] [46:17.03]Most of the voices that have come down to us describing the events after 1066 [46:22.66] [46:22.83]are written from the victor's perspective, [46:25.62] [46:25.79]unapologetic and crowing, sketching the starkest possible contrast [46:30.34] [46:30.51]between the Machiavellian perjurer Harold and the noble, betrayed William. [46:36.30] [46:36.47]But among this nauseating chorus of congratulation [46:39.62] [46:39.79]there's at least one that dares break rank, [46:42.54] [46:42.71]that in fact sees the conquest as it surely was - [46:45.86] [46:46.03]a brutal, ruthless and completely successful act of aggression and cruelty. [46:52.70] [46:53.95]The voice is all the more credible because it belongs to someone [46:56.94] [46:57.11]who by rights, should have found nothing to fault in the Norman Conquest - [47:01.10] [47:01.27]the monk Orderic Vitalis, whose family came over with William [47:05.22] [47:05.39]and belonged, therefore, to the conquering class. [47:08.66] [47:08.83]In the early 12th century, [47:10.86] [47:10.95]he began to pen his account of the Conquest and its aftermath, [47:14.62] [47:14.71]and, in complete contrast to the others, [47:17.17] [47:17.35]Orderic never minces his words about what he thought of as a colonisation. [47:22.18] [47:22.43]Foreigners grew wealthy with the spoils of England, [47:26.02] [47:26.19]while her own sons were either shamefully slain [47:29.02] [47:29.11]or driven as exiles to wander hopelessly through foreign kingdoms. [47:33.86] [47:36.35]His account conveys the traumatic magnitude of what happened in England [47:41.06] [47:41.23]in the years following 1066. [47:43.82] [47:43.91]Pre-Conquest England was an old country, as Orderic describes it. [47:48.54] [47:48.71]Afterwards, it was a completely new one. [47:51.22] [47:52.27]Of course, not everything changed, [47:55.22] [47:55.31]and to look at a list of governing institutions [47:57.74] [47:57.83]you might suppose nothing had changed; [48:00.13] [48:00.31]that one class of governors had kicked out another class of governors. [48:04.54] [48:04.71]Big deal! [48:06.58] [48:06.75]But I rather think it was a big deal. [48:08.86] [48:09.03]Imagine the county gentry of England - priests, squires, judges - [48:14.46] [48:14.63]all wiped out overnight, half of them dead, [48:18.25] [48:18.43]the rest humiliated, broken, replaced by an alien class. [48:23.82] [48:23.99]They speak differently, they look different, they take what they want when they want, [48:29.54] [48:29.71]and then rubber-stamp the decision in your courts. [48:33.41] [48:35.99]They also build differently. [48:38.66] [48:38.91]Ely Cathedral is one of those places [48:41.10] [48:41.19]where the intimate scale of Saxon churches [48:44.30] [48:44.47]was replaced by a statement of massive triumphalism. [48:49.14] [48:49.31]These columns speak of authority and raw power. [48:53.18] [48:53.35]They command obedience and reverence. [48:56.14] [48:56.31]They are, in the most literal sense, awesome. [49:00.18] [49:09.19]It was the difference [49:11.18] [49:11.35]between the immense Romanesque bulk of the great Norman cathedrals [49:15.62] [49:15.79]and the small spaces of the Saxon chapel. [49:18.50] [49:19.35]There is another telling difference between the old and new rulers of England: [49:24.06] [49:24.23]Anglo-Saxons didn't use surnames. [49:26.82] [49:26.95]They were Cedric or Edgar of somewhere or other. [49:29.74] [49:29.91]But the Normans incorporated places [49:32.18] [49:32.35]into their own names like an act of possession. [49:35.70] [49:35.87]They were Roger of the beautiful hill - Roger Beau-Mont - [49:39.49] [49:39.67]as the place was theirs and they owned it lock, stock and barrel. [49:44.94] [49:45.11]In fact, preserving the estate intact [49:47.62] [49:47.79]was what the Norman nobility was all about. [49:50.09] [49:50.27]It was they who introduced the practise of passing on whole estates [49:53.94] [49:54.11]intact to one heir, to the eldest son. [49:56.94] [49:58.99]The unsentimental, decisive way with things was the Norman way, [50:03.54] [50:03.71]giving a hard-nosed edge to the fuzzy tangles of contracts and customs [50:08.65] [50:08.83]that had been used by the Anglo-Saxons. [50:11.90] [50:12.99]And it was in this spirit that William, in 1085, [50:16.77] [50:16.95]held court in Gloucester and launched arguably [50:20.10] [50:20.27]the most extraordinary campaign of his entire reign, a campaign for information. [50:24.86] [50:27.43]We tend to think of William as more or less permanently in the saddle. [50:30.86] [50:31.03]He grew up in a world, after all, where authority was usually delivered [50:35.14] [50:35.31]on the blade of a sword. [50:37.38] [50:37.55]So it's all the more impressive that he seems to have understood instinctively [50:41.25] [50:41.43]that information could also be power. [50:44.18] [50:44.35]William the Conqueror was the first database king. [50:47.86] [50:50.59]His immediate need was to raise a tax, [50:53.18] [50:53.35]but the compilation of the Domesday Book was more than just a glorified audit. [50:57.98] [50:58.15]It was a complete inventory of everything in the kingdom, [51:01.26] [51:01.43]shire by shire, pig by pig; [51:06.02] [51:06.19]who had owned what before the coming of the Normans and who owned what now; [51:10.70] [51:10.79]how much it had been worth then and how much now. [51:14.41] [51:17.59]The king sent his men all over England, into every shire, [51:20.78] [51:20.95]to find out how many hundred hides there were in each shire, [51:25.54] [51:25.71]what land and cattle the king himself had in the county. [51:29.30] [51:29.47]So very narrowly did he have it investigated [51:32.30] [51:32.47]there was no single hide nor - shame to relate it, [51:35.34] [51:35.51]but it seemed no shame to him - was there one ox or one cow [51:40.30] [51:40.47]left out and not put down in record. [51:43.74] [51:43.91]While some of the information was taken verbally by William's scribes, [51:48.10] [51:48.27]some must have owed its existence to Saxon records. [51:52.18] [51:52.35]The most extraordinary paradox about the Domesday Book [51:55.54] [51:55.71]is that what we think of as a monument to the power and strength of the Normans [51:59.74] [51:59.91]owed itself to the advanced machinery of government [52:02.62] [52:02.79]left in place by the old Anglo-Saxon monarchy. [52:06.70] [52:06.87]And it was thanks to this that the data was collected [52:09.78] [52:09.95]at such lightning speed, less than six months. [52:13.94] [52:16.43]The results were presented to William here at Old Sarum, [52:20.21] [52:20.39]an ancient Iron Age fort inside which he'd built [52:23.46] [52:23.63]a spectacular royal palace. [52:25.93] [52:26.11]When he took hold of the Domesday Book, [52:28.14] [52:28.23]it was as though William had been handed the keys to the kingdom all over again, [52:32.46] [52:32.55]as if he'd re-conquered England, but this time statistically, [52:36.06] [52:36.23]because its information was more impregnable than any castle. [52:40.94] [52:41.11]It was called The Domesday Book, after all, [52:43.34] [52:43.51]because it was said its decisions were as final as the Last Judgement. [52:48.30] [52:51.71]The Church itself holds Wenlock. [52:53.98] [52:54.15]There are 20 hides, four of which are exempt from tax under King Canute. [52:58.86] [52:59.03]There are 15 slaves, two mills serve the monks, plus one fishery. [53:04.10] [53:04.27]Enough woodland to fatten 300 pigs, and two hedged enclosures. [53:09.62] [53:09.79]Value now twelve pounds. [53:12.30] [53:13.79]Two ceremonies took place on Lammas Day, 1087, at Old Sarum. [53:19.89] [53:20.07]First, every noble in England gathered here [53:22.86] [53:23.03]to take an oath of loyalty to the king. [53:25.46] [53:25.63]Then came the handing over of the Book, [53:28.94] [53:29.11]the ultimate weapon to keep them in line. [53:31.67] [53:31.83]Nobody could hold back anything, and it was this book, [53:35.66] [53:35.83]the Domesday Book, that made the gathering at Old Sarum [53:39.22] [53:39.39]unique in the history of feudal monarchy in Europe. [53:42.98] [53:43.15]For the Book ultimately WAS England. [53:47.50] [53:49.31]For centuries after, this was the secret of English government, [53:53.22] [53:53.39]a partnership between the power of the landed classes [53:56.66] [53:56.83]and the authority of the state, [53:58.82] [53:58.99]between the guardians of the green acres and the keepers of knowledge. [54:03.26] [54:03.43]In the right hand corner, the gentry; [54:05.50] [54:05.67]in the left hand corner, the civil service. [54:08.34] [54:08.51]In between them, the eternal umpire, the king. [54:11.70] [54:13.19]But the umpire was finally feeling the strain of it all. [54:17.14] [54:17.31]Not surprising when, aged 60, [54:19.69] [54:19.87]William still couldn't resist playing the warlord. [54:22.86] [54:23.03]In 1087, he subdued a border dispute in France [54:27.10] [54:27.27]by totally destroying the town of Mantes. [54:30.74] [54:30.91]But perhaps this devastation was one too many, [54:35.30] [54:35.55]for a flaming timber from a house burned by his soldiers [54:39.09] [54:39.27]fell right in front of the king. William's horse suddenly bucked, [54:43.62] [54:43.79]throwing the now overweight king violently against his saddle, [54:48.38] [54:48.55]his gut taking the force of the blow. [54:51.26] [54:51.83]Mortally wounded, William was taken to a priory at Rouen. [54:56.38] [55:00.31]At the very end, Orderic Vitalis puts into William's mouth [55:04.09] [55:04.27]an extraordinary deathbed confession, [55:07.22] [55:07.39]so penitential, so utterly out of character [55:10.66] [55:10.83]that it seems on the face of it completely incredible. [55:14.30] [55:14.47]But whether William actually spoke those words or not, [55:17.58] [55:17.75]they clearly reflected what some, perhaps many people, [55:20.86] [55:21.03]felt about William the Conqueror - that when all the battles were won, [55:25.78] [55:25.95]when the laws were all laid down, he was what he had always been, [55:30.22] [55:30.39]a brutal adventurer. [55:32.98] [55:33.15]And the conquest of England not a righteous crusade, [55:36.14] [55:36.31]but just a grand throw of history's dice. [55:40.46] [55:41.83]I appoint no one my heir to the crown of England [55:44.58] [55:44.75]for I did not attain that honour by hereditary right, [55:47.46] [55:47.63]but wrestled it from a perjured King Harold [55:50.38] [55:50.55]in a desperate battle with much effusion of human blood. [55:54.06] [55:54.23]I have persecuted its native inhabitants beyond all reason. [55:58.50] [55:58.67]Whether gentle or simple, I cruelly oppressed them. [56:01.50] [56:01.67]Many I unjustly disinherited. [56:03.97] [56:04.15]Innumerable multitudes, especially in the county of York, [56:07.26] [56:07.43]perished through me by famine or the sword. [56:10.58] [56:10.75]Having therefore made my way to the throne of that kingdom [56:13.82] [56:13.99]by so many crimes, I dare not leave it to anyone but God alone, [56:18.82] [56:18.99]lest after my death worse should happen by my means. [56:23.06] [56:24.27]Once he had gone, in the early hours of the morning [56:27.38] [56:27.55]of the 9th September, 1087, a shocking scene took place. [56:32.34] [56:33.15]His closest followers now paid their last respects to William [56:36.98] [56:37.15]by all deserting him, [56:39.18] [56:39.35]racing to the four corners of the kingdom to secure their land, [56:43.86] [56:44.03]leaving the corpse to be looted by the servants, [56:49.05] [56:49.23]naked, bloated and beginning to putrefy on the monastery floor. [56:54.62] [56:56.27]So the man who spent his life taking whatever he could [56:59.89] [57:00.07]by whatever means, was finally robbed of everything, [57:04.06] [57:04.23]even his dignity. [57:06.42] [57:06.59]Perhaps the hand of God had decided that this was a fitting end. [57:11.66] [57:17.83]As for his old antagonist, Harold, [57:20.29] [57:20.47]he certainly didn't stay buried on the shore facing the Channel, [57:24.38] [57:24.55]as some Norman historians suggested. [57:27.01] [57:27.19]Rumours had it that he'd escaped and was living as a hermit. [57:30.81] [57:30.99]But another story is much more likely to be the truth - [57:35.22] [57:35.39]that once it was safe, the female survivors of the family [57:38.46] [57:38.63]took Harold's remains and had them interred here at Waltham Abbey. [57:43.42] [57:43.59]According to William and the Pope, [57:46.18] [57:46.35]Harold was supposed to have been a despoiler of the Church, deserving of destruction. [57:51.66] [57:51.83]But the monks at Waltham didn't seem to agree, [57:54.39] [57:54.55]for they secretly buried him and prayed for his soul. [57:58.62] [57:59.27]Somewhere, then, beneath the columns and arches [58:02.50] [58:02.67]of this Romanesque church, is the last Anglo-Saxon king, [58:07.42] [58:07.59]literally part of the foundations of Norman England. [58:12.42]

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