Episode 3 1066: A Year to Conquer England


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Late afternoon,

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Wednesday the 27th of September.

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The year is 1066,

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and a vast Norman battle force is bent on the destruction

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of Anglo-Saxon England.

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But 1066 is about far more than just the Battle of Hastings.

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This is the story of three kings, three battles and three invasions,

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of 12 months that transformed Britain.

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As well as Harold of England...

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..and Duke William of Normandy...

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Do you recognise me?

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..there was also a Viking,

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King Harald Hardrada,

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all facing off in a series of bloodbaths...

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..that brought an end to the long terror of the Vikings...

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..before, finally, the epic Battle of Hastings itself.

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What 1066 led to is stamped on our landscape.

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The Normans forged a new Britain,

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with language, laws and customs we still live with today.

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But just how the Normans seized such power is much less clear.

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Now I am travelling Europe in search of answers,

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experimenting with weapons and tactics...

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I mean, that is completely terrifying -

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you could chop someone in half.

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..and discovering revelations hidden within a unique document

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written just months after those great battles...

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What it essentially says,

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is that William sent in a dedicated death squad.

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

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My brother, he is a lying dog.

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..and tragic twists of fate...

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Soon we will be filling England's graveyards.

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..which would change the shape of Britain...

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March to battle.

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..and Europe...

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..forever.

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Shall we do battle?!

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This is the real story of 1066.

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Early morning, and Harold of England is in York,

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200 miles north of London.

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Just three days have passed since the Anglo-Saxon king fought for

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his kingdom and his life.

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The battle for York at Stamford Bridge

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was a watershed in British history.

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Harold had killed his rival brother,

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the exiled Earl Tostig, ending a bitter family feud.

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And the Viking, King Harald Hardrada,

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had died a warrior's death in his bid for immortal glory.

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The English victory marked the beginning of the end

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of the great Viking age of conquest.

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Harold has destroyed two of his great foes in a single battle.

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But he has no idea that, 300 miles away,

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William and 700 Norman ships are now bearing down

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on England's southern shores.

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After months of planning and preparation,

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William was finally making his bid for the English crown.

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He believed it was his right, he believed that God was on his side,

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and he was certain that it was just a matter of time before

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Anglo-Saxon King Harold was toppled from his throne, dead or alive.

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William, by 1066, is at the height of his power.

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He is getting on for 40 years old,

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he has been very successful in defending and expanding

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his Duchy of Normandy,

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and now he has his eyes set on the prize that he was promised

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15 years earlier - the throne of England.

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My Lord.

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William has been trapped in port for two long months.

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Now finally at sea, it seems his troubles are far from over.

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Where are they?

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William's ship is adrift,

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alone in the Channel.

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William sent a man up the mast to try and spot the rest of the fleet,

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but it was nowhere to be seen.

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Trying to appear unconcerned, he sat down,

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ate a hearty breakfast accompanied by spiced wine.

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But he must've been feeling sick inside.

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He'd spent most of 1066 and vast amounts of money

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gathering this invasion fleet

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and now it seemed to have just disappeared.

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Having faced delays and vicious storms,

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William had taken a massive risk,

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sailing into changeable autumn winds and bad visibility.

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But as his fleet appeared in the distance,

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he knew that, at last, the great invasion was on.

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HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

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With King Harold in the north and his navy stood down,

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William sails on unopposed.

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Already he is closer to London than the English King himself,

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without a single arrow being fired.

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I've invited two historians to get inside the heads

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of our remaining rival warriors.

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I've been wronged before God and now I will have my vengeance.

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Harold of England...

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..and William of Normandy.

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They'll explore the thinking behind their battle plans...

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Then I'm going to send in my fleets into the channel to block you,

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in case you try and get back to Normandy.

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..as the two warlords gear up for the final battle.

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So here I come crossing the Channel, heading for Pevensey in Sussex,

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and what adds to my sense of achievement is that Pevensey

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is in the earldom of Wessex, which is your heartland,

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so that is a delicious seasoning for my revenge.

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I feel excited and now I can see with my own eyes

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what my spies have been telling me -

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that the south coast is indeed undefended.

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And what that means is that I can land and build a base unopposed.

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Things could hardly be going better for me.

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Well, I was waiting on the Isle of Wight for you to attack for weeks.

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And you did nothing. So I assumed you had given up, at least for now.

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No.

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And also, summer is over - we all know it's incredibly difficult

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to cross the Channel in the autumn,

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so I reasonably assumed you would wait until the spring

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-before you tried anything else.

-You underestimated me.

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OK, well, things haven't panned out as I expected either.

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I am up in the north, I have been fighting off the Vikings and Tostig.

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All I want to do is get to London and get some rest.

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9am.

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By the grace of God, I've taken hold of my kingdom.

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England is in my hands.

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This was a classic moment of William the politician, where you

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take something that could be a terrible omen -

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you know, he falls headfirst, the failure of his mission.

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And instead it's turned into a sign of God's total support

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for his rule, his success, his kingdom.

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William began to dig in here at Pevensey, and quickly captured

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the neighbouring town of Hastings.

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Over the course of the next 24 hours, an estimated 14,000 men,

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3,000 horses and tonnes of supplies came ashore

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to establish a powerful base which would eventually become

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this Norman castle.

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Conquest couldn't have been easier.

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Where were the English soldiers to fight them off?

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Where were the tough Anglo-Saxon warriors

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to drive them back into the sea?

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Where was King Harold to repel Duke William?

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They were all hundreds of miles away.

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Harold doesn't even know that William has left France,

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let alone landed.

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But William also has to make guesses, because he doesn't know

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the fate of Harald Hardrada and his great Viking army.

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So what I do know is that you've headed north to confront Hardrada

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and you have taken your army with you.

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But who has won the great battle that I have to assume has been fought?

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And most saliently, from my point of view,

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who am I going to be facing in battle?

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Is it going to be Harald of Norway...

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..or is it going to be Harold of England?

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No-one knows exactly when the terrible news of William's arrival

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reached Harold, 300 miles away to the north.

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But we can work out what might have happened.

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Bad news travels fast.

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We know that messengers were able to ride around the clock,

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constantly using fresh horses.

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Now, a horse can gallop up to 30mph for short periods,

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so by constantly using fresh horses, it is possible that the word

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could have travelled from Pevensey down here to York

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in as little as a day.

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The news must have been a body blow to Harold.

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He had just fought one great battle to secure his kingdom,

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and now he realised that he faced another,

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possibly even bloodier fight.

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Six days after William's landing, and a still battle-weary Harold

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rides south for London.

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With William securing his base and taking land,

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the English King is in deep trouble.

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All his life, Harold had been in the right place at the right time.

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Born into the most powerful family in England, he had been at

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the previous King's deathbed.

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He had managed to win the support of the ruling nobles.

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And he'd moved fast to defeat his brother

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and the great Viking invasion.

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But now Harold was still more than 200 miles away from mounting

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a defence of his kingdom.

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And after York, his own force was badly depleted.

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Harold would have to do as best he could without many of his best men.

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As he marched south to London, he ordered that a new army be raised.

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He was determined to repeat his success at Stamford Bridge,

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to repel the invader and secure his crown.

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The obvious thing to do is to keep going south and to take you on

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in battle, but that is not my only option,

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because I can sit and wait it out in London.

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Your provisions are going to run out.

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Winter is on its way,

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it is only a matter of time before your supplies give up.

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Well, by now I have heard about your victory at Stamford Bridge

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and I think it is reasonable to assume

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that you have heard about my landing.

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I want to goad you into attacking me while you are still exhausted,

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and so to that end I am literally branding my authority

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on the countryside of Sussex.

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I am sending my troops out to put villages to the torch,

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to kill the locals, and I'm doing that because I am banking on the

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fact that that will infuriate you, and thinking that,

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I'm going to be honest here,

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makes me smile.

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-What do we do now?

-Fight.

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He's in our country, destroying our lands and our people -

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we have no choice.

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When Harold returns to London, there is a big debate about whether they

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should go immediately and confront the Normans or wait until the army

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has been properly assembled.

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His brother and his mother are both keen to wait and pause,

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but Harold is incredibly impatient.

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You might be the King, but I am your mother.

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This isn't about me.

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This is about England.

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-Look, let me go and fight William, you stay here.

-Never.

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But if you fight, you may die.

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I'll do my duty.

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Listen to me.

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If we fight William without you,

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you can raise reinforcements to back us up, and if we fail,

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you can defeat William while he is weak.

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OK, with clear eyes I can see that Gyrth's plan is sensible.

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He comes in and fights you first,

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then I come in with a second wave and finish you off.

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But...in the heat of the moment,

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I'm not going to listen to plans like that.

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And that's exactly what I want to happen.

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My tactics are working - by ravaging your heartlands,

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I've goaded you and I'm luring you into battle,

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with the result that you are behaving intemperately,

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you can't see straight for your anger.

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Look, it's my job to defend my kingdom.

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Just three days later,

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Harold leads his army south from London,

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towards Hastings and William.

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Look, I am going to come down there and I am going to defeat you.

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I'm going to keep marching south with my men to Hastings,

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then I'm going to send my fleets into the Channel to block you,

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in case you try and get back to Normandy.

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But my primary game plan is to do what worked so well for me

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at Stamford Bridge, which is to get to you fast

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and take you by surprise.

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Well, that may be your plan but you are forgetting one thing -

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I am sending my cavalry out on reconnaissance.

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They're tracking your every move.

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If you think you're going to take me by surprise,

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you've got another think coming.

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As Harold marched south,

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he was joined by fresh troops along the way.

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But he was also met by an envoy sent by William,

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in an effort to persuade him to back down.

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Well?

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My Lord would like to remind you that he is the rightful King of England.

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Both King Edward and yourself promised it to him.

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You know how I feel about that.

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The Duke has a solution -

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to put his case against you before judgment,

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by the law of the English, or of the Normans, as you prefer.

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Edward on his deathbed named me his successor.

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If they decree by right that you ought to possess this kingdom,

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let you possess it in peace.

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Fine. Then let the Duke take his army back to Normandy.

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But if they agree it should be surrendered to the Duke William,

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you must abandon it to him.

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I will not be judged for my kingdom.

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My Lord,

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if you reject this,

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the Duke does not consider it right that either his men or yours

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should fall in battle, for they have no guilt in your dispute.

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So what, then?

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The Duke offers to fight you, head-to-head in single combat,

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to prove the kingdom should be his rather than yours, by right.

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Then he takes me for a fool.

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May God this day judge the right between me and William.

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We march today.

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We march to battle!

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On the night of Friday the 13th of October,

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the two sides camped around eight miles apart.

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Apparently William feared a night attack, so he made his men stand-to

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through the night, ready for battle.

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A chronicler tells us that while the Normans spent the night in prayer,

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the English partied and drank.

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I suspect this is Norman propaganda.

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Some of those Englishmen would have fought at Stamford Bridge,

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and have marched down south with Harold.

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The others are there defending their own lands, defending their kingdom.

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I doubt they were drunkenly carousing,

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cos nobody really wants to fight with a hangover.

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Harold must face one more day of battle.

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He knows that victory would make him untouchable -

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a great warrior king to rival any who was gone before.

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Defeat would mean the fall of Anglo-Saxon England

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and almost certain death.

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LORD'S PRAYER IN OLD FRENCH

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William, meanwhile, is rested and prepared.

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Victory would make him one of Europe's richest

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and most powerful leaders.

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Transformed before God from a duke into a king.

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Both know that the future of England is about to be written -

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in blood.

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May this day,

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the most sacred powers invested in me by our father...

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..lead us to victory over wickedness,

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and bring everlasting peace to this land.

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I've been dreaming of this for months.

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I have been wronged before God and now I will have my vengeance.

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Today is my day.

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God wills it.

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Not if I can help it.

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I am already marching south towards you,

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and my soldiers are on their mettle.

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We can meet you anywhere and I am planning on being ready at the first

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chance to attack.

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Well, don't think that I'm sitting around praying all morning.

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I've got no intention of letting you come and attack me down in Hastings,

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so I will be marching northwards along the road that leads

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from Hastings to London and my plan is to stop you marching

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any further south into my territory.

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8am.

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Marching north,

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William spots Harold's army emerging from a forest on a distant hill.

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At last.

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After months of waiting, William can finally ready himself for battle.

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But his mail coat is back-to-front.

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LAUGHTER

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There have been a series of very unfortunate mishaps for William.

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He loses his fleet halfway across the Channel,

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he stumbles as soon as he sets foot on English soil,

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and he puts his mail coat on the wrong way around.

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Now, this would have terrified any normal man,

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but William just laughs it off - as far as he is concerned,

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he has every right to the English throne.

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Great men of Normandy,

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great men of Brittany,

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great men of Burgundy,

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Christians one and all,

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today we fight under God's banner.

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Victory will be ours once more.

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CHEERING

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Meanwhile, Harold sees the Norman army in the distance.

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What Harold did next is detailed in a unique document that takes us

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to the very heart of events that autumn day nearly 1,000 years ago.

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Hidden in the National Library in Brussels is an ancient book

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containing an epic poem.

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The Carmen, or Song Of The Battle Of Hastings,

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is our earliest surviving account of 1066.

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It gives us a blow-by-blow description

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of this pivotal moment in history.

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This is the Battle of Hastings laid bare,

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from the first move to the last death.

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It tells us a little about the way Harold deployed his forces.

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So you have a line here that says there was a hill nearby

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that they seized and the English...

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HE SPEAKS LATIN

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..as was their wont...

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HE SPEAKS LATIN

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So they advance to occupy the hill in their famous dense formation,

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the shield wall. So Harold, it's telling us,

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begins the battle by seizing the high ground.

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950 years on, and one of the most seismic moments in British history

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has become the stuff of tourism.

0:25:230:25:25

This is the town of Battle, eight miles from Hastings.

0:25:290:25:33

And it stands right next to the historic site itself.

0:25:350:25:38

On the early morning of the 14th of October 1066,

0:25:410:25:45

the English and the Normans faced each other on this battlefield.

0:25:450:25:48

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle said that the battle took place

0:25:480:25:52

near the hoary apple tree.

0:25:520:25:54

OK, so, we are halfway, a third of the way up this big, gentle,

0:26:000:26:05

but quite long slope. Is this no-man's land, then?

0:26:050:26:07

Effectively, at the beginning of the battle, I suppose we are.

0:26:070:26:10

So what you have to imagine is that behind me...

0:26:100:26:12

Forget about all the ruined buildings you can see behind me, that's the later Abbey...

0:26:120:26:15

Right at the top of the slope beyond what you can see

0:26:150:26:18

of the ruined buildings, is where Harold has placed his standard.

0:26:180:26:21

I'm feeling pretty good about where we are.

0:26:210:26:24

We've got the better position,

0:26:240:26:26

we're in a good tight formation,

0:26:260:26:29

all we need to do is hold this position for the rest of the day.

0:26:290:26:32

Behind you at the bottom of the valley is where you are

0:26:330:26:36

going to find Duke William's army, and they are at an immediate

0:26:360:26:39

disadvantage because if you imagine that the bottom of

0:26:390:26:42

the valley is rather marshy, very damp,

0:26:420:26:45

they would come through that damp land and then start climbing

0:26:450:26:48

the hill to take Harold's position.

0:26:480:26:50

It's true that we absolutely do have the worst position.

0:26:500:26:53

We're going to have to take the battle to you, we're going to have

0:26:530:26:56

to go uphill and that is always a challenging thing to do.

0:26:560:26:58

Knackering and quite intimidating. That's the English army up there,

0:26:580:27:01

and they are not going to be moved easily.

0:27:010:27:03

That's the English army up there shouting at you, shouting,

0:27:030:27:06

"Ut, ut, ut!"

0:27:060:27:07

You've got the Norman army apparently singing

0:27:070:27:09

The Song Of Roland as they approach, you've got the sound of trumpets

0:27:090:27:12

at the start of the battle, you've got the noise, the fanfare,

0:27:120:27:15

the adrenaline and the fear - as the Norman advance

0:27:150:27:19

comes on to the Saxon.

0:27:190:27:21

We do have certain advantages.

0:27:210:27:23

We, for instance, have three lines of battle here in the front.

0:27:230:27:27

We have our archers,

0:27:270:27:29

and then behind them we have a line of infantry and then behind them,

0:27:290:27:34

our strike force, our cavalry.

0:27:340:27:37

And looking around I can see that you have absolutely no cavalry

0:27:370:27:41

on the field at all,

0:27:410:27:43

and that leads me to conclude that you are going to be fighting

0:27:430:27:46

in the old-fashioned, plodding English way that you always do,

0:27:460:27:50

and that makes me feel good about our prospects.

0:27:500:27:54

Before the sun sets, you will have honour, fame and riches.

0:27:540:27:59

Do not fear.

0:28:010:28:02

We will not be slaughtered,

0:28:030:28:05

or captured and mocked by our enemy.

0:28:050:28:08

Now is the time to dare and then to rejoice in a triumph that will echo

0:28:080:28:14

down the centuries, with our names and our deeds.

0:28:140:28:18

CHEERING

0:28:180:28:20

The stage was set for a day that would shape the future of Britain

0:28:240:28:29

and Europe.

0:28:290:28:30

The unfolding dramas of 1066,

0:28:320:28:35

ever since the death of the old, childless King Edward the Confessor,

0:28:350:28:40

had come to this.

0:28:400:28:41

Two great armies...

0:28:420:28:44

..and a field.

0:28:450:28:46

9am -

0:28:500:28:52

battle begins.

0:28:520:28:54

My first order is to my archers.

0:28:570:29:00

Volley after volley is aimed up the hill at the English line.

0:29:050:29:10

A rain of arrows was a terrifying sight...

0:29:140:29:16

..and every sharpened point potentially devastating.

0:29:180:29:22

That's just gone clean through - it shows how much power there is in that bow.

0:29:320:29:35

There's a lot of velocity.

0:29:350:29:37

It was only really the rich who had all that mail and all that helmet,

0:29:370:29:40

so there's a lot of vulnerable people on the battlefield,

0:29:400:29:42

and if you're vulnerable, that's going to happen to you.

0:29:420:29:45

The advantage of this is you don't have to be up close and personal.

0:29:450:29:48

You can actually be, what? 100 metres, almost 200 metres

0:29:480:29:50

away from someone and still do them great damage?

0:29:500:29:52

Indeed. If you're selecting an individual, then you're probably

0:29:520:29:55

20, 50 metres away. If you're raining it down,

0:29:550:29:57

then you can be 200 metres back.

0:29:570:29:59

So, yeah, it is one thing worrying about the threat on the ground,

0:29:590:30:02

-the guys coming, but you've also got an aerial threat.

-Exactly.

0:30:020:30:05

Draw.

0:30:050:30:07

But my archers are just the first wave, a kind of softener.

0:30:160:30:19

Next, up the hill I send my infantry

0:30:190:30:21

and they too are a fearsome proposition,

0:30:210:30:24

armed as they are with daggers, with axes and with swords.

0:30:240:30:28

The great thing is that our shield wall means that you can't actually

0:30:450:30:50

do any major damage,

0:30:500:30:52

so we grab hold of everything we can lay our hands on -

0:30:520:30:55

spears, sticks, rocks, and we hurl them at your incoming infantry.

0:30:550:31:00

OK, but you are yet to face my most lethal weapon of all,

0:31:010:31:05

something that you English, wielding your axes,

0:31:050:31:08

rooted to the spot as you are,

0:31:080:31:10

will find a truly terrifying novelty -

0:31:100:31:13

my cavalry.

0:31:130:31:14

The Normans and the English do warfare in quite different ways,

0:31:250:31:28

and the main difference is that the Normans have cavalry,

0:31:280:31:33

whereas the English,

0:31:330:31:34

because they've been fighting the Vikings for a century or so,

0:31:340:31:37

do things in a more Scandinavian way.

0:31:370:31:39

They ride to battle but then they dismount, and fight on foot,

0:31:390:31:43

so the Norman elite does have this advantage.

0:31:430:31:47

But it wasn't a done deal for the Norman cavalry.

0:31:500:31:53

Facing them was a wall of linked shields.

0:31:560:31:58

This was a sturdy defence perfected against the Vikings.

0:32:000:32:04

And it was said to be virtually impenetrable.

0:32:070:32:10

So with the help of some local sixth formers from Battle,

0:32:150:32:18

I'm going to put it to the test.

0:32:180:32:20

The idea behind a shield wall is that individually we are weak,

0:32:210:32:26

together we are...

0:32:260:32:28

ALL: Strong!

0:32:280:32:29

You've got it. There you go.

0:32:290:32:30

Interlocking wall of shields, right.

0:32:300:32:33

All right, guys, I'm coming right in the middle here like King Harold.

0:32:330:32:35

Here we go. Brace yourselves.

0:32:350:32:38

One, two, three, go.

0:32:380:32:40

OK, hold them, hold them!

0:32:420:32:44

Well done, guys.

0:32:450:32:47

OK, so now we are in the formation that the Anglo-Saxons were in,

0:32:470:32:51

and as you can see, it does give you great strength.

0:32:510:32:53

You're working together, you can get your body weight and can withstand anything coming at you.

0:32:530:32:57

It feels impenetrable,

0:32:570:32:59

especially when the Normans have had to attack all the way up the hill

0:32:590:33:02

as well, they'd have been knackered.

0:33:020:33:04

The English were so tightly packed together that there was hardly

0:33:040:33:07

any room for the slain men to fall to the ground.

0:33:070:33:11

There we go. Push them back. One, two, three, go. OK.

0:33:110:33:15

William's invasion force,

0:33:220:33:24

used to the European style of agile fighting on horseback,

0:33:240:33:28

had never encountered a solid,

0:33:280:33:29

old-fashioned English shield wall before.

0:33:290:33:32

So all I need to do is to hold fast behind the shield wall.

0:33:370:33:43

Let you do all of the running.

0:33:430:33:45

You are advancing again and again uphill.

0:33:450:33:49

Now, I know that if I can hold this until nightfall, I've probably

0:33:490:33:53

got a pretty good chance of winning the battle.

0:33:530:33:56

You'll be exhausted, then I can call for reinforcements

0:33:560:33:59

-from across England.

-OK, so the battle has been going on now for a couple of hours

0:33:590:34:03

and I will confess, I am starting to feel just a little bit worried.

0:34:030:34:07

I am painfully aware that I have to break your shield wall,

0:34:070:34:11

and force victory by nightfall,

0:34:110:34:13

and so it is that I send in wave after wave of attack -

0:34:130:34:16

my archers, my infantry, my cavalry,

0:34:160:34:19

in a desperate attempt to defeat you.

0:34:190:34:22

Noon, and the battle is locked in stalemate.

0:34:290:34:32

After three hours of repeated attacks,

0:34:340:34:37

William is failing to break through.

0:34:370:34:39

Then, without warning, an entire flank of William's army

0:34:430:34:47

turns and runs away from the English line.

0:34:470:34:50

This unexpected turn of events has long been the subject of debate.

0:34:530:34:58

Just what was going on?

0:34:580:34:59

Could William's well-trained soldiers really

0:35:010:35:03

have simply turned and fled?

0:35:030:35:05

The ancient sources disagree.

0:35:080:35:10

Some say that William's men were fleeing,

0:35:110:35:14

defeated by the English shield wall.

0:35:140:35:16

But the very earliest account of the battle contains a revelation.

0:35:180:35:21

The Carmen talks about this episode

0:35:220:35:26

and it says...

0:35:260:35:27

HE SPEAKS LATIN

0:35:270:35:29

"And, as if beaten, they cunningly simulated flight."

0:35:330:35:38

So in other words, it's a ruse, it's a feigned retreat.

0:35:380:35:42

Yes, of course it's a tactical move.

0:35:420:35:44

We Normans do it all the time - it is a tried and tested manoeuvre.

0:35:440:35:48

You see, the thing is, if you can convince an enemy that they have

0:35:480:35:52

victory within their grasp,

0:35:520:35:54

then you can persuade them to leave the security of their

0:35:540:35:57

shield wall and your men certainly have been suckered.

0:35:570:36:00

Look at that - my trap is working beautifully.

0:36:000:36:03

Smelling victory, the English charge in pursuit.

0:36:050:36:08

Meanwhile, in the Norman camp, a terrible rumour begins to spread.

0:36:120:36:17

That William himself is dead.

0:36:180:36:21

In medieval battles, the death of a commander usually meant the end,

0:36:230:36:26

certain defeat.

0:36:260:36:27

William's line began to waver.

0:36:270:36:30

But William was not dead -

0:36:300:36:31

he removed his helmet, showing his face to his men.

0:36:310:36:34

Look at me!

0:36:340:36:35

Do you recognise me?

0:36:370:36:39

I am alive! With God's help, I will conquer!

0:36:420:36:46

I've seen a lot of fighting and I know that at moments like this

0:36:490:36:52

you have to show your face and rally your men.

0:36:520:36:56

And it works.

0:36:560:36:57

They turn round and hack the pursuing English to death.

0:36:570:37:02

Again and again they attack the shield wall.

0:37:020:37:05

And twice we try the feinted retreat, and twice your men

0:37:050:37:11

come pouring down the hill.

0:37:110:37:14

Now, I sense a real shift in the fortunes of battle here

0:37:140:37:18

and an opportunity.

0:37:180:37:20

Because your previously solid shield wall is now perforated

0:37:200:37:26

with gaping holes.

0:37:260:37:28

Harold's impregnable defence has splintered.

0:37:350:37:39

The Norman retreats have opened up the battle into fluid and brutal

0:37:410:37:46

close-up fighting.

0:37:460:37:47

OK, we are rapidly losing our advantage and being forced to fight

0:37:510:37:57

on open ground. We're going to have to step up and fight hard,

0:37:570:38:02

hand-to-hand, face-to-face.

0:38:020:38:04

Everything seems to have turned around in a matter of minutes.

0:38:040:38:09

I was completely in control of the situation and now I'm not.

0:38:090:38:13

Now William's cavalry has the freedom to wreak terror.

0:38:260:38:30

While on the ground,

0:38:330:38:34

vicious weapons are inflicting terrible carnage on both sides.

0:38:340:38:40

It's basically a dagger, stabbing weapon.

0:38:400:38:42

Of course, a dagger stabbing weapon

0:38:420:38:43

is repeated again and again and again -

0:38:430:38:46

come in nice and close, choose your target...

0:38:460:38:48

Oh! That just went through like a knife through butter.

0:38:500:38:54

-God!

-There was no effort there at all, was there?

-No. What's next?

0:38:540:38:57

I think we'll go with the classic, the Norman sword.

0:38:570:39:00

OK, here we go.

0:39:000:39:02

Whoa!

0:39:060:39:07

I mean, that is completely terrifying.

0:39:070:39:09

You could chop someone in half.

0:39:090:39:11

You don't need words when you see that.

0:39:110:39:13

Unprotected flesh, and that's what it is going to do.

0:39:130:39:16

It's terrifying.

0:39:160:39:18

And that's not the most devastating weapon in the arsenal.

0:39:180:39:21

Here we go - the axe, Dane-axe, battle-axe.

0:39:210:39:24

That is a terrifying weapon.

0:39:330:39:35

It's thuggery, isn't it?

0:39:350:39:36

I mean, it's just brutality at its very worst.

0:39:360:39:38

Early afternoon.

0:39:480:39:49

Battle has now been raging for a gruelling five hours.

0:39:510:39:55

Conscripts, mercenaries...

0:40:000:40:03

..and nobles...

0:40:040:40:05

..on both sides fall...

0:40:070:40:08

..including the very highest of Harold's Anglo-Saxon royal family.

0:40:110:40:16

Harold's brother Gyrth was cut down.

0:40:270:40:29

The Carmen says it was by William himself.

0:40:290:40:32

Harold's great ally and adviser, Gyrth,

0:40:350:40:39

the brother who has stood by his side since before his coronation,

0:40:390:40:44

right through the battles of Stamford Bridge and now Hastings...

0:40:440:40:49

..is dead.

0:40:510:40:52

The afternoon wears on...

0:41:100:41:12

..and William's cavalry continues to charge.

0:41:140:41:17

But his archers are also still at work.

0:41:220:41:26

The very soldiers who began the battle...

0:41:260:41:28

..are about to end it,

0:41:290:41:32

bringing England to its knees.

0:41:320:41:35

Harold has been King of England since the 6th of January.

0:41:530:41:57

He has fought off a fearsome Viking invasion...

0:42:010:42:04

..but he has given his all to defend his kingdom.

0:42:060:42:09

Now, after just 281 days,

0:42:140:42:19

England is once more without a king.

0:42:190:42:23

The death of King Harold in 1066 is one of the most famous moments

0:42:330:42:39

in all of British history.

0:42:390:42:40

It lies at the heart of our nation's story,

0:42:420:42:46

and is immortalised in the Bayeux Tapestry.

0:42:460:42:49

But there's more to this great legend than it seems.

0:42:510:42:54

The Chronicles aren't very clear about exactly how Harold died.

0:43:000:43:04

It is a good 35 years after the conquest when we're told then

0:43:040:43:08

that Harold was pierced by a lethal arrow,

0:43:080:43:11

and then it is another 30 years when we get a bit more detail,

0:43:110:43:14

so William of Malmesbury, in his chronicle, tells us that it was a...

0:43:140:43:18

SHE SPEAKS LATIN

0:43:180:43:20

It was an arrow which pierced his brain.

0:43:200:43:23

And then ten years after that, another historian finally tells us

0:43:240:43:28

that in fact Harold was killed by an arrow in his eye.

0:43:280:43:31

And so it has taken a good 60 years for this apparently vital piece of

0:43:330:43:37

information about Harold's death to finally be stated outright.

0:43:370:43:41

Our very earliest source, the Carmen,

0:43:450:43:48

written just months after the Battle of Hastings,

0:43:480:43:51

tells a very different story.

0:43:510:43:53

Another revelation that doesn't even involve an arrow at all.

0:43:560:44:00

Instead, it describes a much, much nastier death for Harold.

0:44:020:44:07

What it essentially says is that William sent in

0:44:090:44:13

a dedicated death squad, deliberately to take Harold out.

0:44:130:44:17

Now, it is unclear from the Latin whether William is personally

0:44:170:44:21

part of that death squad but it does describe in detail the way Harold

0:44:210:44:25

is supposed to have died. We're told that in the first place

0:44:250:44:28

he is pierced in the chest.

0:44:280:44:30

Secondly, his head is sliced from his shoulders.

0:44:330:44:36

Thirdly, he is disembowelled.

0:44:370:44:39

And fourthly and finally, it says...

0:44:410:44:45

HE SPEAKS LATIN

0:44:450:44:47

His "thigh" is removed.

0:44:480:44:51

And almost certainly, that is a euphemism

0:44:510:44:54

for his genitals being cut off.

0:44:540:44:56

Now, this, even by medieval standards,

0:44:560:45:00

is shockingly brutal behaviour to inflict on an anointed king.

0:45:000:45:04

So, 950 years on, our popular image of the death of Harold

0:45:070:45:13

could be wrong.

0:45:130:45:15

Instead of a single arrow,

0:45:210:45:23

a death squad sent to assassinate and then mutilate the English King.

0:45:230:45:28

We'll never be absolutely certain how Harold died, but we can be

0:45:360:45:40

fairly sure that his death marked a turning point.

0:45:400:45:43

With Harold's death, the English army collapsed.

0:45:440:45:48

An ordered defence had become a bloodbath...

0:45:480:45:51

..and then a rout.

0:45:540:45:55

The English tried to flee

0:45:580:46:00

but the Normans hacked them down...

0:46:000:46:02

..victorious.

0:46:050:46:06

Amid the carnage of a spent battle, William sets up camp.

0:46:280:46:33

He has meat cooked for him...

0:46:360:46:38

..and eats amongst the dead and the dying.

0:46:390:46:42

There are several stories about what happened to Harold's corpse.

0:46:490:46:53

One is that it was picked out on the battlefield by his mistress,

0:46:530:46:56

Edith Swanneck.

0:46:560:46:58

She was able to tell it apart, because of certain marks

0:46:580:47:01

known only to herself.

0:47:010:47:03

Another is that Harold's mother Githa offered Duke William

0:47:030:47:07

the body's weight in gold for its return.

0:47:070:47:09

But William refused.

0:47:120:47:13

Some sources say that Harold was buried close

0:47:150:47:18

to the battlefield itself, on a clifftop looking out to sea.

0:47:180:47:22

We also have later records from Waltham Abbey, which claim that

0:47:220:47:25

that is where he was buried -

0:47:250:47:26

the monastery which he had built and endowed and enriched.

0:47:260:47:30

And that's possible but dubious,

0:47:300:47:32

partly because the last thing the Normans would have wanted

0:47:320:47:35

would be to create the focal point for a cult of Harold.

0:47:350:47:38

But it wasn't just Harold that died on this battlefield -

0:47:420:47:46

the elite of England was annihilated.

0:47:460:47:49

The Battle of Hastings marked the death of Anglo-Saxon England.

0:47:490:47:53

Throughout the course of 1066,

0:47:580:48:01

three great warlords had fought for the prized crown of England.

0:48:010:48:05

Harold Godwinson,

0:48:070:48:10

the Viking Harald Hardrada,

0:48:100:48:13

and William.

0:48:130:48:15

Now only the Norman duke is left alive.

0:48:170:48:20

Victory is at last his.

0:48:210:48:24

But still, he is not yet a king.

0:48:250:48:28

News of William's victory reaches Westminster in hours.

0:48:390:48:44

The surviving English nobles must decide

0:48:450:48:49

to submit to the Normans...

0:48:490:48:52

or fight on.

0:48:520:48:54

What do we do now?

0:48:540:48:55

Well, we have a ready-made king.

0:48:560:49:00

But you can't expect Edgar to defeat William in battle?

0:49:000:49:03

But he is the heir. We must put right before might.

0:49:030:49:06

But you'd be throwing him to the wolves.

0:49:060:49:08

What choice do we have?

0:49:080:49:10

Drink this, sir.

0:49:120:49:14

Just 10 months earlier, Harold had sidelined the teenage prince,

0:49:150:49:19

Edward the Confessor's closest blood relative.

0:49:190:49:22

Ever since, Edgar the Atheling had lived at court,

0:49:260:49:29

untroubled and uninvolved in the dangerous politics surrounding him.

0:49:290:49:34

Now Edgar is the last, desperate hope.

0:49:360:49:39

The remaining Anglo-Saxon nobles elect him to be their new King.

0:49:410:49:45

Meanwhile, William waits in Hastings,

0:49:490:49:52

expecting to be offered the crown.

0:49:520:49:54

But two weeks pass...

0:49:560:49:57

..and still no word comes from London.

0:49:590:50:02

In our war room, only one historian is still standing.

0:50:060:50:10

Clearly then, I am left with very little choice but to force them

0:50:110:50:15

to submit to me.

0:50:150:50:17

I'm going to have to do what I do best, so I take my army

0:50:170:50:22

and I head east towards Dover.

0:50:220:50:25

I attack it and then I move on Canterbury.

0:50:250:50:29

Both of them quickly and, I must say, sensibly, submit.

0:50:290:50:33

Then it's on westwards towards London.

0:50:330:50:37

At Southwark, the Londoners refused to allow me across the Thames.

0:50:370:50:41

They block my access.

0:50:410:50:42

It's frustrating and it is pointless because they have

0:50:420:50:45

no prospect now of holding me off in the long run.

0:50:450:50:49

I continue westwards until I reach a bridging point at Wallingford.

0:50:490:50:54

Once I'm over the Thames, I head back east towards London.

0:50:540:50:59

William and his army marched on.

0:51:040:51:05

The nobles supporting Edgar quickly realised that any resistance

0:51:080:51:12

was impossible.

0:51:120:51:13

The end came here in Berkhamsted...

0:51:200:51:22

..a market town in Hertfordshire,

0:51:240:51:26

25 miles to the north-west of London.

0:51:260:51:29

William marched his army along this road.

0:51:330:51:35

Nowadays, it is Berkhamsted High Street, but back then

0:51:350:51:38

it was the Roman road leading directly to the heart of London.

0:51:380:51:41

William was getting closer and closer.

0:51:410:51:44

It seemed like nothing could stop him now.

0:51:440:51:47

William set up camp on this spot.

0:51:530:51:55

And it was here in early December that the English leaders

0:51:580:52:01

finally rode out from London...

0:52:010:52:03

..to submit to him.

0:52:040:52:06

Among the delegation that came here to Berkhamsted,

0:52:070:52:10

there were senior clergy, nobles, even Edgar the Atheling,

0:52:100:52:14

whose brief hopes of being king were now snuffed out.

0:52:140:52:19

These surrendering Englishmen meekly requested of the Conqueror,

0:52:190:52:24

would he be their new king?

0:52:240:52:25

William road unopposed into London,

0:52:300:52:33

and began to fully enforce Norman rule on England.

0:52:330:52:36

Christmas Day, 1066.

0:52:570:53:00

The illegitimate Duke William is anointed King William I.

0:53:050:53:11

William the Conqueror.

0:53:140:53:16

When the assembled crowd of English and Normans were asked

0:53:240:53:27

whether it was their will that William be king,

0:53:270:53:29

they cheered so loudly that the Norman guards positioned

0:53:290:53:33

outside the abbey panicked and thought there was a riot.

0:53:330:53:36

So they set fire to the surrounding houses.

0:53:360:53:39

William's coronation is hurriedly concluded.

0:53:470:53:50

But just as with all the mishaps that have beset him on his journey

0:53:520:53:56

to the English throne...

0:53:560:53:58

..William remains triumphant.

0:53:590:54:02

William sat alone on his newly acquired throne,

0:54:040:54:08

as Westminster burned around him.

0:54:080:54:10

It was a fitting start to the bloody rule of the Normans.

0:54:110:54:15

William's coronation was far from the end of his fight for control

0:54:210:54:25

of England.

0:54:250:54:28

There would be years of bloody rebellion, insurrection

0:54:280:54:31

and instability, especially in the wild north.

0:54:310:54:36

William built a secure operations base, the Tower of London.

0:54:400:54:44

He ruthlessly destroyed any opposition,

0:54:480:54:51

killing tens of thousands of ordinary people,

0:54:510:54:54

and laying waste to huge swathes of the country.

0:54:540:54:57

The chronicler Orderic Vitalis wrote that William was guilty

0:55:010:55:05

of wholesale massacre and barbarous homicide.

0:55:050:55:09

Eventually, he would replace any English nobleman left alive

0:55:090:55:13

after the Battle of Hastings with his own Norman barons,

0:55:130:55:17

taking the wealth and the land and giving it to his supporters.

0:55:170:55:20

This was a Norman takeover.

0:55:200:55:23

It was the biggest transfer in land ownership in English history.

0:55:230:55:27

The old ruling class of England, the aristocracy, is swept clean away.

0:55:280:55:33

So you have 10,000 Englishmen

0:55:330:55:35

replaced by 10,000 Continental newcomers,

0:55:350:55:39

who speak a different language and who have very different ideas

0:55:390:55:42

in their head about the way society should be.

0:55:420:55:45

The Norman invasion changes everything.

0:55:450:55:48

Of course there's a new ruling dynasty,

0:55:480:55:50

but there are more obvious signs of change,

0:55:500:55:53

notably the architecture of the Normans.

0:55:530:55:56

Suddenly we have these vast cathedrals and castles

0:55:560:56:00

dominating the landscape.

0:56:000:56:01

The language changes, the traditions, the laws.

0:56:010:56:05

It's a sea change in England.

0:56:050:56:08

And they bring ideas of how you treat human beings,

0:56:100:56:13

they bring chivalry, they abolish slavery.

0:56:130:56:16

In every respect,

0:56:180:56:20

England is massively transformed by the Norman conquest.

0:56:200:56:24

You know, forget about the English Civil War,

0:56:240:56:26

forget about the Reformation - this is the single greatest change

0:56:260:56:29

that England and the English ever experience.

0:56:290:56:32

And it wasn't only England that was transformed.

0:56:360:56:39

1066 saw the demise of the Anglo-Saxons...

0:56:420:56:45

..but also the end of the great Viking age of conquest.

0:56:490:56:53

From now on, England looked not north and east

0:56:560:57:00

to Denmark and Scandinavia,

0:57:000:57:03

but south to France and Rome.

0:57:030:57:06

Europe had shifted on its axis.

0:57:080:57:11

It had taken almost exactly one year for William to plan and execute

0:57:140:57:19

his invasion of England.

0:57:190:57:20

It would take him many more years to subdue the English people.

0:57:280:57:32

Eventually he would return to Normandy

0:57:370:57:39

to fight over his borders at home...

0:57:390:57:41

..but England was now firmly Norman.

0:57:430:57:46

Moving into a new future...

0:57:470:57:48

..which left the Dark Ages far behind.

0:57:500:57:53

William ended up spending most of his reign back in Normandy

0:57:570:58:00

and it was there eventually, in 1087, that he died,

0:58:000:58:03

a fat and bloated shadow of his former warrior self.

0:58:030:58:07

It was the end of one of the most dramatic reigns in British history,

0:58:070:58:11

a reigns that saw seismic changes to this country,

0:58:110:58:15

the results of which, like William's great tower,

0:58:150:58:19

we're still living with to this day.

0:58:190:58:21

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