Episode 2 1066: A Year to Conquer England


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April 1066,

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12 weeks since Harold Godwinson was crowned King of England.

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Now, there's much work to be done.

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Already, two powerful warlords

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are plotting to rip the crown from his head.

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Godwinson!

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William of Normandy...

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..and a Viking, King Harald Hardrada...

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I will carve my name in legend.

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..are both planning to launch vast invasion fleets...

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Come on, men!

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..to wage war.

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1066 is about so much more than just the Battle of Hastings.

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That year, England would endure three invasions

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and three terrible battles.

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Three mighty warlords battle for supremacy on English soil,

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and by the end of the year,

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only one of them would still be alive.

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What 1066 led to is stamped on our landscape.

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The Normans forged a new Britain with language,

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laws and customs we still live with today.

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But just how a tiny region of France

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seized such power, is much less clear.

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Now I'm travelling Europe in search of answers...

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These are human bone, almost certainly.

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..experimenting with tactics and weapons...

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Hands by your side for a second.

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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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This, even by medieval standards, is shockingly brutal behaviour.

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..to reveal a bitter tale of family betrayals...

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He'll stab you in the back.

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..and tragic twists of fate...

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We take no notice of omens and doubters.

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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?

-CHEERING

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This is the real story of 1066.

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Easter, 1066.

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Harold Godwinson rides south from Northumbria.

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Not long now for a decent meal and some sleep.

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As a new king, he must secure his power right across England.

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Harold had grabbed the throne

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as soon as King Edward the Confessor died...

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HE PRAYS IN LATIN

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..sidelining Edgar, Edward's great-nephew,

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and convincing the Anglo-Saxon nobles

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to elect him instead.

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Now, with his loyal brother Gyrth,

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Harold has been visiting the often rebellious Northern Earls.

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Well, I think that went well.

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-At least you got a wife out of it.

-Mm.

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Do you like her?

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-I do, but that's not the point.

-HE CHUCKLES

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The crucial problem facing Harold in 1066,

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was to try to create unity

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in the Midlands and the North,

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and his way of doing this was to abandon the wife of 20 years,

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Edith Swanneck, and to marry, instead,

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the sister of the Earls of Northumbria and Mercia,

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who's also called Edith.

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-So, two Ediths?

-Mm.

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-Be interesting when they meet.

-Mm.

-HE CHUCKLES

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All seemed well in Harold's England,

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but the reality was that the new king was beset by problems,

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both at home and abroad.

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To the south, William, Duke of Normandy,

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and to the north, the Viking, King Harald Hardrada,

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are both plotting to destroy Anglo-Saxon England.

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Let our enemies gouge out the eyes of their own brothers.

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Then, God willing,

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they will be too blind to see when I take what is mine.

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That's the one thing you can trust about an Englishman -

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he'll stab you in the back.

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Well, we're going to stab them in the front.

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William was one of the most powerful and impressive men

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in Western Europe at this time,

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and he genuinely believed that, 15 years previously,

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he had been promised the throne of England

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by England's king,

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and he was not going to let anything get in the way of that claim.

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But 1,000 miles to the north, William has a powerful rival.

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-HE GRUNTS

-Come on!

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You useless veslingr!

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Even an old man like me could do better than that.

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Come on!

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Hardrada is the ultimate Viking.

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A despotic warrior who's battle-hardened from years of war.

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Come on!

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Hardrada is still ambitious.

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Like all Vikings, he still craves glory

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and plunder and fame.

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Kiss my thin-lipped axe!

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Harold faces danger from overseas, but also at home,

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in the shape of a younger brother called Tostig.

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Tostig had been stripped of the earldom of Northumbria,

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when powerful nobles rebelled against his tyranny.

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To avoid a civil war, he'd been sent into exile.

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Thirsty for revenge,

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he had betrayed his brother by seeking to support William.

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He's stolen my lands, he's stolen your crown.

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Together, we can destroy him.

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And bitter hatred had also taken him north

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to pledge allegiance to the Vikings.

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England is yours for the taking.

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Invade now and your name will live forever.

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But Tostig is too angry to wait for his new allies.

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He decides to go it alone.

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Two weeks later, and England is under attack.

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Come on, men!

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Let's show that filthy bastard!

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60 warships are closing in on the Isle of Wight.

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In a vicious act of family betrayal,

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Tostig brings war to his own brother's kingdom.

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Soon, we will have landfall.

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I've invited three historians

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to get inside the heads of our competing warlords.

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This is lies, lies, lies! All you ever speak are lies.

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They'll explore the thinking behind their battle plans.

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We're going to continue down the coast to the mouth of the Humber

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and we're going to attack York.

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Harold Godwinson...

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..William of Normandy...

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..and Harald Hardrada...

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..now ask, "Just what was Tostig up to?"

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I can't say that I'm particularly surprised that he's upset.

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He wants his land and his power back.

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But I am surprised by the way he's going about it.

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He is crossing the Channel from Flanders with 60 ships

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and heading for the Isle of Wight.

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What does he hope to achieve?

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I am as bewildered as you.

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It was only a few weeks ago

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that Tostig pledged me his support, so what is he up to?

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Is he expecting me to cross over and join him?

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Because if so, he is making a serious mistake.

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I am not going to be ready to launch my own invasion for months yet.

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Well, don't forget that Tostig has already offered me the chance

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to become King of England, by proposing

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a joint invasion from the north late in the summer.

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I've no idea what he's up to.

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Maybe his lust for revenge against you, Harold,

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has finally tipped him over the edge

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because he's acting like he's gone totally insane.

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Landing unopposed, Tostig ran riot on the Isle of Wight.

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He attacked people, burnt buildings, and stole food and weapons.

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A direct assault on his brother Harold's authority.

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He had to be stopped.

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Back in the 11th century, it would have taken about two days

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for news of Tostig's invasion of the Isle of Wight

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to reach Harold in London.

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He immediately set off for the south coast,

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and he gathered together what the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes as,

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"The largest concentration of land and naval forces

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"ever assembled by a king of England."

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England had a particularly impressive and sophisticated way

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of raising an army at this point.

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On the one hand, there are the personal bodyguard

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of the king himself and of all his main nobles - the housecarls.

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These were professional soldiers, effectively.

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In addition to that, the structure of English governance,

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through counties or shires and hundreds,

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enables a king to raise men from the countryside -

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the fyrd, as it's known -

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and they will fight for their locality.

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Hearing that his brother was on his way with overwhelming force,

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Tostig fled...

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..sailing up the east coast of England.

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He attempted to take land in the north,

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but there he faced his old enemies,

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now Harold's newly nurtured allies, the Northern Earls.

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SHOUTING

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Tostig's army is outnumbered and is beaten back...

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..but Tostig escapes.

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With just 12 remaining ships,

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he makes it to the safe haven of Scotland...

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..a convenient northern base to link up with Harald Hardrada

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and the Vikings.

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King Harold had been tested for the first time in his short reign.

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He'd managed to repel the first invasion of England in 1066.

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But he must have known that wouldn't be the only challenge

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to his authority that year.

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Tostig might have fled, but Harold knew that,

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across the Channel in Normandy, William's plans were advancing fast.

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You have travelled far and wide, I trust.

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Yes, I have left no path untrodden.

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There is enthusiasm, my lord, a fervour...

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..even a passion for your great enterprise.

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-I sense a "but".

-Yes.

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A small number of nobles are...a little reticent.

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Don't they know what rewards await them on the other side of the sea?

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That's the problem.

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They fear the sea will swallow up their men,

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their horses, their boats, and they will be left with nothing.

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It is God who marshals the sea.

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With his blessing, we will fly across the ditch

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and put right a wicked wrong.

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I have no doubt.

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William's headquarters were at Caen.

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Now one of Normandy's largest cities,

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in the 11th century this was a small town,

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which William fortified into a power base.

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From his castle,

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he set about winning political support for his invasion.

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People would have been very unsure about the idea

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of simply going in and conquering another country

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and killing an anointed king.

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The king, of course, Harold, has been anointed with holy oil.

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He is God's chosen representative of his people,

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and therefore the act of killing him

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unsettles people across Europe.

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William quickly realised that he'd need to appeal

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to an even higher power to back him up.

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It was time to recruit God.

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THEY PRAY IN LATIN

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William and his wife Matilda were devout Christians.

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They built two great abbeys in a grand display of their piety.

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William turned to Pope Alexander II for help.

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He sent envoys all the way to Rome to put his case for the invasion.

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Amen.

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For William to gain the support of the Pope was very important to him

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in terms of the legitimacy of his claim,

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that he could say that God upheld his claim over England

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and that those who opposed him were the sinners.

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THEY PRAY IN LATIN

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The basis of William's case for invasion

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was that Harold was a usurper.

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First of all, William said that Edward the Confessor

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had promised him the throne 15 years before,

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and Harold had stolen it.

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But William had a further ace up his sleeve.

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He said that Harold HIMSELF had promised him the throne

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just two years before.

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The story of what happened is told in our most famous record of 1066...

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..the Bayeux Tapestry.

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Harold sails across the Channel.

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Storms blow him onto French soil, where he's arrested.

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William secures Harold's release and brings him to Normandy...

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..and there, in the key scene,

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Harold makes an oath over holy relics,

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promising to support William's claim to the English throne.

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What the Bayeux Tapestry doesn't explain

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is why Harold was at sea in the first place.

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Another unique document offers a clue.

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Hidden in the national library in Brussels

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is an ancient book containing an epic poem.

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The Carmen, or Song, Of The Battle Of Hastings,

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is now regarded as our earliest surviving account of 1066.

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It's packed with details

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that challenge much of what we thought we knew.

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The Carmen has an interesting piece of information

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about Harold's trip to Normandy.

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There's the line where it says...

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HE READS IN LATIN

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"William was granted a ring and a sword."

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Now, the ring and the sword were two of the items

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with which you were invested when you were made a king.

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So, this is sort of strongly suggesting

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that Harold was sent bearing these tokens,

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promising William the kingship.

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But another ancient writer suggests that William

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may not have been totally honest himself.

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He says that Harold was in Normandy deliberately,

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and he was there to try and secure the release

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of two of his family members,

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whom Duke William had been holding hostage for 15 years.

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I wanted to free my brother and my nephew,

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who, I might add, you had been holding

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against their will for years.

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Right, we agreed that I would free your nephew immediately

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and that I would free your brother once I become king.

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-And there was one solitary condition...

-Oh!

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..and that was that you had to give me your backing

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-as Edward's successor.

-Well, there you...

-That was all.

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There you go. You've admitted it.

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I wanted to get back safely to England with my brother,

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with my nephew, so I had to agree to your demands.

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But you are admitting that you swore an oath,

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you're admitting that you swore it on relics,

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and that being so, you will agree that I am within my God-given right

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to cross over to England and to take what is mine.

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I think that ANYONE would agree.

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William's envoy set out these arguments to Pope Alexander.

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Would he back him in his campaign against the usurper Harold?

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Pope Alexander agreed. He accepted all William's arguments.

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He even went so far as to issue William

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with a papal banner that his men could carry before them into battle.

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It gave William's invasion the status, almost, of a crusade.

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Amen.

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-God will keep you safe.

-He'll need to.

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But I believe he will.

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ALL CHEER

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William was building up his already mighty military force for invasion.

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And now he had God on his side,

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all of which was bad news for King Harold

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and for Anglo-Saxon England.

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1,000 miles from Normandy,

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Harald Hardrada is in communication with Tostig in Scotland

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and preparing his own invasion from the north.

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-Are you ready, Asger?

-Aye, my lord.

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-Is your axe finely honed?

-'Tis, my lord.

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-Shall we do battle?

-CHEERING

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Like Duke William, Harald Hardrada was hungry for more conquests,

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and as a Viking, he believed he had a God-given right to invade England.

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It's what the Vikings had been doing for centuries.

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But Hardrada also new that this was his last throw of the dice.

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This was his last chance to conquer more territory

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or cement his own legend.

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So, when Harold's vengeful brother Tostig

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encouraged Hardrada to invade England,

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Hardrada leapt at the chance.

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Now, I'm assembling my troops here on the isles

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just off the west coast.

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Both of you, I think, know that Vikings know their way around ships.

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Well, I've got 500 of them and 30,000 men,

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all of them battle-hardened warriors,

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so this is going to be an invasion to make the whole of England quake.

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The core of Harald Hardrada's army is made up of his housecarls.

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These are his household retinue.

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They're professional soldiers, experienced killers,

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battle-hardened from 16 years of war.

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But there's also another type of warrior,

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and that's the berserkers.

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These were warriors who were liable to slip into fits of psychotic rage.

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They were impervious to pain. They had no fear of death.

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And I think there could be little more frightening in a battle

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than fighting somebody who just keeps coming at you,

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even when your spear is in his belly.

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I kill without compunction...

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..and remember all my killings.

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I have caused the death of 13 of my enemies.

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Hardrada was also a poet.

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He was a skald, in Viking terms. He created poetry.

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He wanted his name to live forever,

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so he did the deeds and then wrote about them.

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I found myself creeping from forest to forest...

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..with little honour.

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Who knows?

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I may become renowned far and wide...in the end.

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Hardrada believed that victory would ensure his immortal Viking legacy.

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He makes provision for Norway to be ruled by his son in his absence,

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which may suggest that he doesn't expect to come back,

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that he expects to be ruling England.

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With the grace of Saint Olaf shining down on me...

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..I will end my days King of Norway...

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..and King of England.

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Thousands of miles apart,

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two great forces were preparing to invade England.

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Their target was King Harold, but there was, in fact,

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another possible rival for the throne,

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the natural successor of the Anglo-Saxon royal dynasty,

0:24:340:24:38

a boy whose claim was better than any of them.

0:24:380:24:41

The boy's identity is revealed in a document from the 1050s.

0:24:430:24:48

This is an extraordinary page from an extraordinary manuscript -

0:24:490:24:52

the Liber Vitae, the Book Of Life.

0:24:520:24:54

But one particular group of entries is extremely interesting

0:24:540:24:58

cos here, we've got, "Edward rex" - King Edward -

0:24:580:25:01

and, "Edgar clito" - Edgar Aetheling.

0:25:010:25:04

And Aetheling means prince or throne-worthy individual -

0:25:040:25:07

someone who is being groomed for the succession.

0:25:070:25:10

King Edward the Confessor might have been childless,

0:25:140:25:18

but in Edgar he had a blood relative -

0:25:180:25:20

a direct descendant of Alfred the Great.

0:25:200:25:23

But when Edward had died,

0:25:250:25:27

Harold hadn't found it hard to sideline the young prince

0:25:270:25:31

in his own bid for the throne.

0:25:310:25:33

The problem with Edgar Aetheling was that he was very young.

0:25:340:25:37

He was a teenager at most

0:25:370:25:39

and he doesn't seem to have made any impression on people.

0:25:390:25:42

He seems to have hung around at court doing nothing.

0:25:420:25:45

So, throughout 1066, as William and Hardrada prepared their invasions,

0:25:490:25:54

Edgar remained in the background, watching events unfold.

0:25:540:25:59

But by the end of that year,

0:25:590:26:01

Edgar would have one more chance to become king.

0:26:010:26:05

Summer.

0:26:180:26:20

Harold is now based on the Isle of Wight,

0:26:200:26:23

from where he marshals the defence of his kingdom.

0:26:230:26:27

He's still unaware of the Viking threat,

0:26:270:26:30

or of his brother Tostig's alliance with Hardrada.

0:26:300:26:34

Harold's sole aim is to counter the expected Norman invasion

0:26:340:26:38

from the south.

0:26:380:26:40

It's just a matter of time, that's all.

0:26:420:26:45

-You heard what they say about him in Normandy.

-What?

0:26:460:26:51

He burst into tears because some people called him a common tanner.

0:26:510:26:55

He then chopped off their hands and feet.

0:26:570:26:59

HE CHUCKLES

0:26:590:27:02

Well, can you blame him?

0:27:020:27:04

100 miles to the south,

0:27:070:27:10

William is massing a formidable force of ships,

0:27:100:27:13

horses and men at Dives

0:27:130:27:15

on the coast of Normandy, near Caen.

0:27:150:27:18

-Is this it? Everything?

-Yes. Ships, horses, men - everything.

0:27:200:27:25

Normandy has done you proud.

0:27:250:27:27

I suppose it's the beginnings of an invasion force.

0:27:270:27:31

We have an army here that would have made Charlemagne proud.

0:27:310:27:35

Not yet.

0:27:350:27:37

But we trust in God.

0:27:380:27:40

The exact number of ships that William had with him here at Dives

0:27:430:27:46

has long been the source of debate amongst historians.

0:27:460:27:50

But there is a document from the time that does give us a few clues.

0:27:500:27:54

This is a list of naval obligations for his nobles,

0:27:540:27:58

and it says that 14 of his barons, plus his wife Matilda,

0:27:580:28:02

all contributed 777 ships.

0:28:020:28:06

And it says that the total number of ships with William

0:28:060:28:09

was more than 1,000.

0:28:090:28:11

By the 4th of August, 1066,

0:28:160:28:19

William's vast invasion fleet was ready to set sail.

0:28:190:28:23

But William had a problem. In order for him and his fleet

0:28:250:28:27

to get safely to the other side of the Channel,

0:28:270:28:29

conditions had to be just right,

0:28:290:28:31

and the wind kept blowing from the wrong direction.

0:28:310:28:35

So, he waited.

0:28:350:28:36

Days passed and the conditions didn't improve.

0:28:360:28:40

William and his army were stuck here on the wrong side of the Channel.

0:28:400:28:45

William is forced to wait.

0:28:490:28:51

Every day, he must feed his troops while they kill nothing but time.

0:28:520:28:59

It's been estimated that William gathered an invasion force

0:29:010:29:05

of up to 14,000 men.

0:29:050:29:07

That's a lot of mouths to feed.

0:29:130:29:16

This was the quantity of bread that the Normans were eating in 1066.

0:29:240:29:30

-How many people would eat that? Not one person?

-No.

0:29:300:29:33

That's the quantity of bread for five people a day,

0:29:330:29:37

compared to this quantity of bread today.

0:29:370:29:40

At the Normans' time,

0:29:400:29:42

there was 70% of the alimentation based on the bread.

0:29:420:29:46

-70% of their daily intake is bread?

-Yeah.

0:29:460:29:49

So, imagine how much bread you'd need for an army of,

0:29:490:29:51

-you know, around 14,000 people.

-Yeah, yeah.

0:29:510:29:53

Wagons of flour.

0:29:530:29:56

Now, it's been estimated, if you assume that William had

0:29:560:29:59

a force of around 14,000 people here in Dives,

0:29:590:30:03

that would have required 14 tonnes of flour

0:30:030:30:07

brought to feed that army every day,

0:30:070:30:09

to make 6,000 of these guys every single day.

0:30:090:30:14

That is a huge effort.

0:30:140:30:16

Two weeks pass and still the wind blows.

0:30:210:30:25

As well as continuing to feed his troops,

0:30:280:30:30

William must also look after thousands of Norman horses.

0:30:300:30:35

His crack cavalry was essential to William's plans,

0:30:360:30:40

but with it came an inevitable problem.

0:30:400:30:43

With up to 3,000 horses, that's a lot of manure.

0:30:460:30:50

One estimate has it that William's cavalry produced

0:30:500:30:53

around 2,500 tonnes of excrement while they were in Dives.

0:30:530:30:58

You add that to all the human waste -

0:30:580:31:00

perhaps 450 tonnes - and you get 3,000 tonnes of poo.

0:31:000:31:06

That's a lot.

0:31:070:31:08

-Bonjour, Sebastien.

-Hello.

0:31:090:31:11

-How are you doing?

-Not too bad. And you?

0:31:110:31:14

-That is a big pile of manure.

-Exactly.

0:31:140:31:17

-It's fumier in French.

-Fumier. How many horses made this?

0:31:170:31:21

-Two.

-Two horses?

-Two horses, yeah.

-How long?

-One week.

0:31:210:31:25

Wow. So, imagine what 3,000 horses would produce.

0:31:250:31:29

-A very big pile.

-THEY LAUGH

0:31:290:31:31

All that manure spelt danger.

0:31:340:31:37

It could spread diseases like dysentery,

0:31:380:31:41

which would put paid to William's dreams of conquest.

0:31:410:31:45

So, William's men had to load up

0:31:470:31:49

all that human and animal waste into carts,

0:31:490:31:52

to transport it miles away from camp, to a safe distance.

0:31:520:31:56

That's around 5,000 cartloads of waste

0:31:560:32:02

taken out into the countryside.

0:32:020:32:04

Yet another two weeks pass.

0:32:110:32:14

Summer will soon turn into autumn...

0:32:140:32:18

..and William's great plans are teetering on the edge of collapse.

0:32:190:32:23

William was very unlucky.

0:32:250:32:27

These kind of hostile conditions

0:32:270:32:30

are very unusual in the summer in the Channel.

0:32:300:32:33

We've mocked up a weather chart

0:32:330:32:35

showing the kind of conditions that he faced through the summer of 1066.

0:32:350:32:38

Here's a big area of low pressure,

0:32:380:32:40

and the wind goes round it in an anticlockwise fashion.

0:32:400:32:44

That means northerly gales banging in here,

0:32:440:32:46

keeping the fleet locked in at Dives-sur-Mer.

0:32:460:32:50

Now, I've sailed on the Channel a lot,

0:32:500:32:51

and you cannot put to sea in these kind of conditions,

0:32:510:32:54

particularly with the more primitive ships and rig

0:32:540:32:57

that they had in the 11th century.

0:32:570:32:58

As summer began to turn into autumn,

0:32:580:33:01

time was slipping through William's fingers,

0:33:010:33:03

and he must have been getting completely desperate.

0:33:030:33:06

Three warriors, the most powerful warlords in Europe,

0:33:090:33:12

can rule kingdoms...

0:33:120:33:14

..but not the weather.

0:33:160:33:18

Across the Channel in England, King Harold waited and waited,

0:33:190:33:22

but no invasion came.

0:33:220:33:25

The English king must have been tempted to hope

0:33:250:33:28

that his kingdom was secure.

0:33:280:33:30

There was no sign of William

0:33:300:33:31

and Hardrada hadn't showed his hand yet, either.

0:33:310:33:34

But all that was about to change.

0:33:340:33:37

The Vikings are on the move.

0:33:480:33:50

The same northerly winds that keep William trapped in Dives

0:33:510:33:56

carry Hardrada towards England,

0:33:560:33:59

where he's planning to attack, with Tostig poised

0:33:590:34:03

waiting in his Scottish base.

0:34:030:34:05

Soon, we will be filling England's graveyards

0:34:080:34:11

and feeding the crows on the rotting corpses of her men.

0:34:110:34:16

ALL CHEER

0:34:160:34:18

Now, the northerly winds are blowing

0:34:230:34:25

me and my Viking warriors across the North Sea.

0:34:250:34:29

Now, this is a distance of about 300 miles,

0:34:290:34:33

and with a north-east wind at my back,

0:34:330:34:34

it should take two or three days to cross.

0:34:340:34:37

So, we stop first at Shetland to take provisions,

0:34:370:34:42

and again at Orkney.

0:34:420:34:44

And then I continue down the east coast of Scotland

0:34:460:34:50

towards England.

0:34:500:34:52

A week later,

0:34:560:34:58

Hardrada joins with Tostig and his men in Northumbria.

0:34:580:35:02

The deposed earl is back, and so are the Vikings.

0:35:020:35:08

Meanwhile, Harold is still on the Isle of Wight,

0:35:090:35:12

oblivious to the immediate danger.

0:35:120:35:15

He continues to look only towards Normandy.

0:35:170:35:21

What's the bastard playing at?

0:35:230:35:25

Can't wait here forever.

0:35:260:35:28

It's now September,

0:35:310:35:33

and Harold knows he will soon have to release his army.

0:35:330:35:37

As summer turned to autumn, King Harold had a big problem.

0:35:390:35:43

The two months of service that his levies had to provide

0:35:430:35:46

had come to an end, the English army was running out of food,

0:35:460:35:50

and there was the added pressure that the men were needed at home

0:35:500:35:53

to help gather in the harvest.

0:35:530:35:54

Harold's hand was being forced.

0:35:560:35:58

He could only hope that the end of summer

0:35:580:36:01

also meant an end to any threat of an attack from William.

0:36:010:36:05

So, on the 8th of September, 1066, Harold sent his men home

0:36:060:36:12

and ordered his fleet to return to London.

0:36:120:36:15

What choice have I got? I can't keep the army at arms indefinitely.

0:36:160:36:21

And anyway, autumn is coming and I'm pretty sure

0:36:210:36:25

you're not going to risk crossing the Channel

0:36:250:36:27

-with an invasion force in September.

-Actually,

0:36:270:36:31

I have no intention of standing down,

0:36:310:36:34

because I learn that you have stood down your army,

0:36:340:36:38

and what that means is that the south of England

0:36:380:36:41

now stands undefended.

0:36:410:36:44

Look, I've no idea what's going on down here in the south,

0:36:440:36:47

and, frankly, I don't really care, either,

0:36:470:36:50

because my plan, up in the north, is going like clockwork.

0:36:500:36:54

We're going to continue down the coast

0:36:540:36:56

to the mouth of the Humber.

0:36:560:36:58

We're going to sail up the River Ouse

0:36:580:37:00

and we're going to attack York.

0:37:000:37:03

York - the ancient Viking capital of England.

0:37:060:37:10

For Hardrada, his first target,

0:37:100:37:14

and a base from which he could conquer the entire country.

0:37:140:37:17

Hardrada and Tostig are poised to take control.

0:37:210:37:25

First, the North, then a march to London

0:37:260:37:30

and the prize of Harold's throne.

0:37:300:37:32

Three days later, the terrible news

0:37:450:37:48

that a Viking fleet has landed reaches Harold.

0:37:480:37:52

-What do we do now?

-Fight.

0:37:520:37:55

He's in our country destroying our lands and our people.

0:37:560:37:59

We have no choice.

0:37:590:38:00

How incredibly galling for Harold

0:38:010:38:03

to discover that, the minute he's dispersed his great army,

0:38:030:38:07

his brother and Hardrada have invaded.

0:38:070:38:09

He's got to put it all back together again - really quickly.

0:38:090:38:12

This is a body blow.

0:38:140:38:15

It has come completely out of the blue.

0:38:150:38:18

The only thing I can do is get my army back together

0:38:180:38:22

and head north fast to take you on.

0:38:220:38:25

And I have got to gamble that you

0:38:250:38:27

are not going to cross the Channel in autumn.

0:38:270:38:29

Then you really do not know me,

0:38:290:38:32

because I remain as determined as ever

0:38:320:38:34

to cross the Channel, reach the south

0:38:340:38:36

and strike hard at your now undefended vitals.

0:38:360:38:41

After six weeks of waiting, William had had enough.

0:38:450:38:49

He decided to defy the winds and set sail.

0:38:490:38:53

It would prove to be a rash decision.

0:38:530:38:56

After months of careful planning, William has to gamble.

0:38:590:39:04

He knows that time is running out...

0:39:040:39:06

..and so he takes his entire force from safe harbour into a stormy sea.

0:39:070:39:13

It was a disaster. William lost ships and men.

0:39:160:39:20

And instead of crossing the Channel,

0:39:210:39:23

he was forced to take refuge 140 miles to the east,

0:39:230:39:27

at St Valery in France.

0:39:270:39:30

I'm going to admit, things could be better.

0:39:330:39:36

In fact, they are verging on the desperate.

0:39:360:39:39

I have lost ships and I've lost a large quantity of men in the storm.

0:39:390:39:44

On the plus side, I am, of course, now that much closer to England.

0:39:440:39:49

But contrary winds continue to blow

0:39:490:39:52

and I am still on the wrong side of the Channel.

0:39:520:39:56

It's very frustrating.

0:39:560:39:58

Storm-battered, William's dream of the English throne

0:40:060:40:10

is becoming a nightmare.

0:40:100:40:11

Meanwhile, Harold musters a new army,

0:40:130:40:16

but he, too, is on the back foot.

0:40:160:40:18

He's a long way south of York

0:40:200:40:22

and any chance of meeting the Viking threat.

0:40:220:40:25

Right now, it's the dark horses - Hardrada and Tostig -

0:40:270:40:32

who have a fresh and powerful army ready to strike.

0:40:320:40:35

Facing them, only a regional force led by the Northern Earls.

0:40:410:40:46

Somehow, they must take on the full might of the Vikings

0:40:480:40:52

and their arch enemy, Tostig.

0:40:520:40:54

SHOUTING

0:40:570:41:01

The two forces met at Fulford,

0:41:050:41:07

just two miles from the gates of York.

0:41:070:41:10

Chas Jones has been excavating the battle site for over 20 years.

0:41:130:41:18

Standing here in 1066, what would we have seen?

0:41:190:41:22

Well, we are standing on a landscape

0:41:220:41:24

that the people who were there would have recognised.

0:41:240:41:26

Here, we've got the English

0:41:260:41:28

standing on this side of the ditch.

0:41:280:41:29

Over there, we've got the Vikings -

0:41:290:41:31

round about 6,000 of them ready to do battle.

0:41:310:41:34

What they've got to do is

0:41:340:41:36

they've got to get across this water-filled ditch.

0:41:360:41:38

The tide is in, which is keeping them apart.

0:41:380:41:40

They're standing there shouting at each other,

0:41:400:41:42

waiting for the tide to drop, so they can actually engage in battle.

0:41:420:41:45

SHOUTING

0:41:450:41:47

The English are lined up here between the river on the one side

0:41:560:42:01

and this swampy higher ground on the other side.

0:42:010:42:03

This blocks the way to York.

0:42:030:42:06

Now, this doesn't really bother me, because I've got a plan.

0:42:060:42:09

I've divided my forces in two.

0:42:090:42:12

We've got some Vikings here together with Tostig's men.

0:42:120:42:15

They're facing the English.

0:42:150:42:16

But I am here with my best troops,

0:42:160:42:20

hidden away out of sight, round a bend in the river.

0:42:200:42:23

So, when the tide goes out,

0:42:260:42:28

it's going to drain this ditch of water,

0:42:280:42:32

and my front line is going to advance towards the English.

0:42:320:42:34

Now, all the English actually need to do is hold their lines.

0:42:340:42:37

SHOUTING

0:42:370:42:41

Astonishingly, they get drawn into the fight,

0:42:570:43:00

and that's the moment for my secret weapon.

0:43:000:43:03

So, I advance with my best troops, along the bend in the river...

0:43:030:43:07

..and I attack the English from the rear, trapping them...

0:43:110:43:15

..and this is a glorious bloodbath.

0:43:170:43:21

So, Chas, you have dug this battlefield, haven't you?

0:43:450:43:48

-What have you found?

-We've found some amazing stuff.

0:43:480:43:52

These are bits of bone which we found at the layer

0:43:520:43:55

that we can date to the 11th century,

0:43:550:43:57

so from the time of the battle.

0:43:570:43:59

It's very unusual to find just random bits of bone in the soil

0:43:590:44:02

cos people are normally buried.

0:44:020:44:04

You do find the odd animal bone,

0:44:040:44:06

but these are human bone, almost certainly.

0:44:060:44:10

-These are probably rib bones.

-Wow.

0:44:100:44:12

So, you could be holding, in your hands,

0:44:120:44:14

the remains of someone who was killed in the battle here in 1066?

0:44:140:44:17

It's very probable.

0:44:170:44:19

Hardrada and Tostig were victorious.

0:44:270:44:30

The old Viking capital of York surrendered to them.

0:44:300:44:34

The great prize of England was within their grasp.

0:44:340:44:38

WILLIAM PRAYS IN LATIN

0:44:380:44:43

Meanwhile, William is still trapped.

0:44:440:44:48

With Harold marching north,

0:44:480:44:50

he knows that southern England lies open,

0:44:500:44:54

but the wind still blows,

0:44:540:44:57

as the Vikings take control in the north.

0:44:570:45:00

When William is stuck at St Valery by the contrary winds,

0:45:030:45:07

the Carmen comes into its own as a source

0:45:070:45:09

because not only is it really closely contemporary,

0:45:090:45:12

it is also local.

0:45:120:45:14

It's written by someone living in this part of the world,

0:45:140:45:16

so it is very well-informed,

0:45:160:45:18

and it tells us that William was in despair.

0:45:180:45:20

It talks about him looking at the weathercock of the church,

0:45:200:45:24

waiting to see the way the wind is going to blow,

0:45:240:45:27

and being reduced to tears.

0:45:270:45:29

The line that leaps out is...

0:45:290:45:31

HE READS IN LATIN

0:45:310:45:36

"The tears streaming down William's cheeks."

0:45:360:45:38

-It says...

-HE READS IN LATIN

0:45:380:45:41

"You were in despair."

0:45:410:45:43

If ever I have offended you as your servant...

0:45:430:45:46

..give me a sign.

0:45:480:45:49

It's just for you, in your name...

0:45:510:45:55

..yet you send me torment.

0:45:560:45:58

A medieval English writer adds to the story.

0:46:020:46:06

William of Malmesbury tells us that

0:46:060:46:08

this was a moment when everything hung in the balance,

0:46:080:46:11

and that all of William's army began to doubt

0:46:110:46:13

that God was in favour of their enterprise.

0:46:130:46:15

And we're told that they began to mutter amongst themselves.

0:46:150:46:19

-He says here...

-SHE READS IN LATIN

0:46:190:46:21

"He is crazy, that man, who wants to subjugate a foreign land.

0:46:210:46:26

"God is against us because he withholds the wind."

0:46:260:46:29

William orders the relics of Saint Valery

0:46:330:46:35

to be paraded through the town

0:46:350:46:38

in a bid to inspire his wavering men...

0:46:380:46:41

..and, in a desperate plea to God, to change the weather.

0:46:430:46:48

But the northerly wind still blows.

0:46:490:46:52

Five days since the Vikings took York.

0:47:030:47:06

Hardrada and Tostig agree to exchange prisoners

0:47:070:47:11

with the vanquished English seven miles east of the city...

0:47:110:47:15

..at Stamford Bridge.

0:47:160:47:18

They're expecting a small group of unarmed men...

0:47:200:47:23

..but they're in for a shock.

0:47:240:47:26

Where are they from?

0:47:320:47:34

-HE SIGHS

-It's my brother.

0:47:370:47:39

We don't know exactly when Harold left London to head to York.

0:47:440:47:48

We do think he was in the York area on the 24th of September.

0:47:480:47:53

Question is - how long it would have taken to cover that 200 miles.

0:47:530:47:57

Now, horses can travel 25 miles a day, perhaps more,

0:47:570:48:00

so it's possible that he made this journey

0:48:000:48:03

in around about seven or eight days.

0:48:030:48:06

One thing we know for sure is that Harold and his men went fast,

0:48:060:48:11

and that gave them their greatest weapon - surprise.

0:48:110:48:14

London? Already?

0:48:150:48:17

-Who else could it be?

-Get them ready! Get them up!

0:48:170:48:21

-SHOUTING

-Move!

0:48:210:48:25

Not expecting Harold to travel north so quickly,

0:48:250:48:29

the Viking army is unprepared for battle.

0:48:290:48:32

The King of England. What a puny little man.

0:48:430:48:46

THEY CHUCKLE

0:48:460:48:48

-He's a big man.

-Yeah, but he's old.

0:48:480:48:53

So, we are approaching the Vikings,

0:48:580:49:01

but the River Derwent stands in our way.

0:49:010:49:05

And there is this small wooden bridge,

0:49:050:49:08

-which we can use to cross over.

-Yeah, but we're not stupid.

0:49:080:49:10

We know the bridge is small and narrow.

0:49:100:49:12

It's a real bottleneck, which is why

0:49:120:49:15

I've sent one of my best men to defend it,

0:49:150:49:18

and he is not going to let anyone pass.

0:49:180:49:21

Legend has it that the lone Norwegian

0:49:350:49:38

heroically stood his ground on the bridge,

0:49:380:49:41

stopping the entire English army from crossing,

0:49:410:49:44

batting away spears and arrows.

0:49:440:49:47

But then, some cunning English soldiers got in a half barrel,

0:49:490:49:53

drifted down under the bridge

0:49:530:49:55

and killed the Norwegian with a spear thrust up between the legs.

0:49:550:50:01

OK, my man on the bridge might be dead, but, crucially,

0:50:070:50:10

he held up the English forces for long enough

0:50:100:50:13

that Tostig and I could arrange our troops into this shield wall.

0:50:130:50:18

This is an extremely strong defensive formation

0:50:180:50:21

and it's going to repel any English attacks.

0:50:210:50:24

SHOUTING

0:50:240:50:28

Andy Deane is an expert on medieval warfare.

0:50:350:50:38

So, when those two armies met on this field in 1066,

0:50:390:50:43

how did they fight?

0:50:430:50:44

Well, you've got the two armies closing the front lines,

0:50:440:50:47

and it would be obvious who the warriors are.

0:50:470:50:50

The ones that stand out are the ones in the armour.

0:50:500:50:52

And if we look down here,

0:50:520:50:54

you've got a plethora of different pieces of kit -

0:50:540:50:56

the helmet, the armours, the swords, the shields, the axes.

0:50:560:50:59

And the way that it came together, famously, of course,

0:50:590:51:02

would probably be shield to shield.

0:51:020:51:04

Yeah, I have got to admit, this is tough.

0:51:090:51:12

My army are trying repeatedly to attack,

0:51:120:51:16

but, frustratingly, they can't get through the shield wall.

0:51:160:51:19

It holds firm.

0:51:190:51:21

SHOUTING

0:51:210:51:24

But the Vikings had an Achilles heel.

0:51:340:51:38

Many had come to Stamford Bridge without a key piece of kit...

0:51:390:51:43

-Do you want to try it on?

-Yes, please.

-Righty-ho.

0:51:430:51:46

..their chainmail.

0:51:460:51:48

Mail shirts, famously, are really, really good protection.

0:51:480:51:52

Roman auxiliaries are using it sort of throughout the antiquity,

0:51:520:51:55

and it's always been great.

0:51:550:51:56

-Oh!

-You're in.

-I feel like the Tin Man.

0:51:560:51:59

Once you put the helmet on and the mail coif that goes round you,

0:52:000:52:04

the shield and the various other bits of equipment,

0:52:040:52:06

then you become fairly impervious to most types of attack.

0:52:060:52:10

If I was to take a sword to you now,

0:52:120:52:14

and these swords are reasonably sharp...

0:52:140:52:16

Put your hands by your side for a second.

0:52:170:52:19

But if I was to basically draw this across you without the mail on...

0:52:190:52:22

..I mean, that would have opened you up to the bone.

0:52:230:52:25

The mortal effect would probably be the cleaving in,

0:52:250:52:28

-where we might be able to do...

-Go on. Give me a whack.

0:52:280:52:30

-Give me a whack.

-Well, I don't want to break your ribs.

0:52:300:52:33

-I'll give you a pat.

-OK, yeah.

-All right?

0:52:330:52:34

-So, the pat would be like that.

-Oh!

-Now, what that "oh" has done

0:52:340:52:38

has given you a moment where you've gone backwards.

0:52:380:52:40

And now I've already followed up

0:52:400:52:41

and brought the sword underneath your chin,

0:52:410:52:43

through your throat, into your brain and walked off.

0:52:430:52:46

OK. And then I'd have a shield, as well.

0:52:470:52:50

You can use it, obviously, for protecting, but,

0:52:500:52:52

of course, the moment you raise your arm,

0:52:520:52:54

you would naturally...come up.

0:52:540:52:58

So, now I can grab it, bring it down,

0:52:580:53:00

thrusting this into your groin at the same time,

0:53:000:53:01

-come over and thrust.

-I get the message!

0:53:010:53:03

And blood and horror everywhere.

0:53:050:53:08

There are no rules.

0:53:110:53:13

I will bite you, I will kick you, I will do anything to stay alive.

0:53:130:53:16

You just keep going.

0:53:160:53:18

Amid the chaos of swords and axes, Harold also has archers.

0:53:250:53:32

BODY THUDS

0:53:560:53:58

Hardrada's bid to take Harold's crown is over.

0:54:050:54:10

Tostig fights on at the head of the Viking force...

0:54:160:54:19

..but the English now have the upper hand.

0:54:210:54:24

King Harold had won an astounding victory.

0:54:400:54:43

It's said that he killed his rebellious brother himself,

0:54:430:54:47

cutting off Tostig's head.

0:54:470:54:50

But the bloodshed was so severe that, writing 50 years later,

0:54:500:54:54

the historian Orderic Vitalis

0:54:540:54:56

said that a great mountain of dead men's bones

0:54:560:54:59

still lay here on the battlefield.

0:54:590:55:02

The Battle of Stamford Bridge was a disaster for the Vikings.

0:55:090:55:13

There were so few Viking survivors

0:55:150:55:18

that only 24 of a fleet of 300 ships were needed to take them home.

0:55:180:55:24

This massive defeat

0:55:280:55:31

marked the beginning of the end for the Vikings.

0:55:310:55:34

From now on, their power would dwindle.

0:55:370:55:40

Harold remained King of England.

0:55:430:55:45

He'd killed a troublesome brother

0:55:470:55:50

and rid himself of one of his great rivals for the throne,

0:55:500:55:55

but another still remained,

0:55:550:55:57

over 300 miles away in northern France.

0:55:570:56:03

Two days after the Viking defeat...

0:56:120:56:15

At last. At last!

0:56:180:56:21

..and after more than seven weeks of waiting...

0:56:210:56:24

Thank you, Father.

0:56:240:56:25

..the winds finally change.

0:56:250:56:28

The Norman camp explodes with joy.

0:56:310:56:33

It's one of the best bits in the Carmen

0:56:330:56:35

that talks about the knights rushing to get their arms

0:56:350:56:38

and the sailors rushing to the masts

0:56:380:56:40

and hoisting the sails and grabbing their oars,

0:56:400:56:42

because they've been waiting for weeks and months

0:56:420:56:45

in the cold and the rain, and now, all of a sudden,

0:56:450:56:48

it's D-Day, game on, they're going to sail.

0:56:480:56:51

No more waiting.

0:56:530:56:55

That afternoon, at high tide, William sails.

0:56:550:56:59

700 ships and 14,000 men.

0:57:010:57:05

With Harold far away,

0:57:060:57:08

the Norman fleet heads for England's undefended southern coast.

0:57:080:57:13

One medieval French chronicler tells us that

0:57:160:57:18

on the proud William's ship there was a figurehead -

0:57:180:57:22

a wooden carving of a boy holding a copper bow and arrow.

0:57:220:57:26

That was now aimed at England.

0:57:260:57:29

With God and luck on his side,

0:57:290:57:32

William would expect to land on the English shore

0:57:320:57:35

the following morning.

0:57:350:57:36

The third attempt to conquer England in 1066

0:57:360:57:40

was about to begin.

0:57:400:57:42

Next time... SHOUTING

0:57:470:57:50

..two great armies face one another...

0:57:500:57:52

..and fight in a single day...

0:57:560:57:58

..for the heart and soul of England.

0:58:010:58:04

HE SCREAMS

0:58:070:58:09

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