0:00:11 > 0:00:16The priory of St Gervais, near Rouen in northern France.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21The year is 1087.
0:00:24 > 0:00:29William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England, is dying.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37He's surrounded by clergy and his most trusted barons and knights.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44As the sun rises, William confesses his sins
0:00:44 > 0:00:47and calls on the Virgin Mary to pray for him.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51BELL TOLLS
0:00:52 > 0:00:55And then, he dies.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11What follows is a horrible scene.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14The men around William's body panic.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20Some galloped off, fearful of the chaos to come.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25Those who stayed plundered the King's possessions, seizing arms, vessels,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29linen, clothing, anything they could lay their hands on.
0:01:29 > 0:01:34Then they abandoned his corpse, stripped half-naked.
0:01:37 > 0:01:43So ended the life of one of the most powerful rulers in 11th century Europe.
0:01:47 > 0:01:54William the Conqueror established the Normans as a formidable force in history.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57He dominated Normandy for 52 years.
0:01:58 > 0:02:04But his greatest achievement was the conquest of England in 1066.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18The years that followed saw one of the most fundamental transformations in British history.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28The reign of William the Conqueror marks the end
0:02:28 > 0:02:33of Anglo-Saxon England. He imposed a new aristocracy, a new language,
0:02:33 > 0:02:34a new culture.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38He transformed England into a Norman stronghold.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42And the Normans didn't stop at the borders of England.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47Scotland, Wales and Ireland were also to feel their impact.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52The political and cultural landscape of Britain and Ireland today
0:02:52 > 0:02:55was forged by the Normans.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19England, 1066.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24One of the wealthiest and most efficiently-run states in medieval Europe.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28Now a country under Norman occupation.
0:03:44 > 0:03:50Just two months after his victory at the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror was in Westminster Abbey.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56He was about to achieve his greatest ambition,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59coronation as King of England.
0:04:07 > 0:04:12But it wasn't quite the glorious occasion William had in mind.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18The Archbishop of York asked the assembled Anglo-Saxon bishops and nobles
0:04:18 > 0:04:21if they were willing to have William crowned as their lord.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25Something of a formality, since they had already submitted to his power.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29With one voice, they dutifully cried out their assent.
0:04:29 > 0:04:35But the Normans on guard outside the abbey, hearing what they described as "incomprehensible shouting",
0:04:35 > 0:04:40feared treachery, and set fire to the buildings around the abbey.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50The coronation of England's first Norman King was descending into chaos.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00But greater turmoil was to follow.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08The coronation of William the Conqueror marks one of the sharpest breaks
0:05:08 > 0:05:10there has ever been in English history.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12Anglo-Saxon England was dead.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14The country was now ruled by the Normans.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19But the disastrous ceremony at Westminster Abbey was an indication
0:05:19 > 0:05:25that the relationship between the English and their new rulers wasn't going to be an easy one.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42William moved quickly to secure his power.
0:05:42 > 0:05:49He began distributing his newly conquered lands among Norman nobles and bishops.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Within weeks, the English landscape was being transformed
0:05:52 > 0:05:55by the construction of motte-and-bailey castles.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Built by locally conscripted labour,
0:06:02 > 0:06:07they were huge mounds of earth topped with wooden stockades.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12Many would later be replaced with monumental towers of stone.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21The English had never seen anything like this before.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27Traditional Anglo-Saxon fortifications were large defensive enclosures
0:06:27 > 0:06:31built to shelter the people from attack.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35Norman castles were compact military bases
0:06:35 > 0:06:40designed to defend the power of William's newly-imposed lords.
0:06:45 > 0:06:51This one in Colchester was partly built with bricks from ancient Roman ruins.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00It was the largest keep in Europe.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13Almost 80 years after the conquest, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was still reporting
0:07:13 > 0:07:19that the Normans were, "oppressing the men of the land with forced labour on the castles."
0:07:19 > 0:07:23And when they were built, "they filled them with devils and evil men".
0:07:23 > 0:07:29Clearly the local population regarded these places as dark and evil.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31And that was the Normans' intention -
0:07:31 > 0:07:34to intimidate the local community.
0:07:50 > 0:07:57Within 30 years, the Normans had built hundreds of these fortifications across the country.
0:07:57 > 0:08:03Few places were more than a day's journey from a castle.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08This was a complete militarisation of England.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16This stone keep was built to guard over William's new capital.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19It was the tallest building in the city.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23We now know it as the Tower of London.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31But England still wasn't safe for William's army of occupation.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46The Abingdon Chronicle tells us that Adelelm, the new Norman abbot of Abingdon,
0:08:46 > 0:08:52"in the first days of his abbacy went nowhere unless accompanied by armed knights".
0:08:52 > 0:08:54The situation was volatile.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59Anglo-Saxon rebels set up secret ambushes for the Normans
0:08:59 > 0:09:02and killed them in woods and remote places.
0:09:06 > 0:09:11To protect himself and his men from ambush and casual knifings,
0:09:11 > 0:09:16William introduced a special penalty targeting the English.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19It was known as the Murdrum Fine.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27Whenever an unknown man was found murdered, the surrounding villages
0:09:27 > 0:09:30had to provide evidence that he was English.
0:09:30 > 0:09:36In the absence of such evidence, it was presumed he was French and the villagers were fined.
0:09:36 > 0:09:42In William the Conqueror's England, the killing of Normans required a special punishment.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Anglo-Saxon resistance was growing.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06In the north of England, it erupted into open warfare.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14Hundreds of years of Scandinavian influence
0:10:14 > 0:10:19had created a northern aristocracy that was largely of Danish origin.
0:10:27 > 0:10:33Now the rebels joined forces with the King of Denmark, who was making his own claim on the English throne.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40In 1069, William marched on York to crush the rebellion.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48The Normans devastated the north of England.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51They sacked every village and farmstead as they went.
0:10:51 > 0:10:58Then William divided his troops into smaller bands who destroyed any crops and livestock they could find.
0:10:58 > 0:11:05This campaign of systematic slaughter and destruction is known as the Harrying Of The North.
0:11:26 > 0:11:33The Anglo-Norman historian Orderic Vitalis reports that more than 100,000 people died.
0:11:38 > 0:11:44Those who survived were reduced to eating horses, dogs and cats,
0:11:44 > 0:11:47and some say, even human flesh.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53A stream of refugees began pouring south.
0:11:57 > 0:12:02A monk of Evesham tells of "a huge crowd of old men, young men,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05"women with infants, fleeing the misery of famine."
0:12:05 > 0:12:07He describes their wretched state.
0:12:07 > 0:12:13"These people lay throughout the village, in doors and out, even in the churchyard.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17"They were sick, destroyed by famine before they arrived here.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20"Many died just as they tasted food".
0:12:24 > 0:12:29A huge area across northern and central England was laid waste
0:12:29 > 0:12:32by this scorched-earth assault on the northern rebels.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40Plotting the settlements destroyed by the Normans shows the scar
0:12:40 > 0:12:44that was carved across the country by William's army.
0:12:49 > 0:12:5416 years later, these areas were still desolate wastelands.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03William was unrepentant.
0:13:03 > 0:13:09He spent Christmas 1069 celebrating amid the squalor and death in York.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13He even had his full coronation regalia sent up from London.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16And on the third anniversary of his coronation,
0:13:16 > 0:13:20he wore his crown and robes in the ruins of York Minster,
0:13:20 > 0:13:25a symbolic gesture of triumph over the rebels.
0:13:29 > 0:13:37All over England, Normans were taking the place of Anglo-Saxon bishops, sheriffs and landowners.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41English culture was being transformed.
0:13:44 > 0:13:50The conquest brought a small, mainly male group to power in England,
0:13:50 > 0:13:54a ruling elite of perhaps no more than 10,000 men.
0:13:54 > 0:14:00Inter-marriage was common, and the children of these Anglo-Norman marriages
0:14:00 > 0:14:05spoke English, because their mothers or wet-nurses were English.
0:14:05 > 0:14:13And the French and English languages are still today playing out that dance they began in 1066.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20In the three centuries that followed the conquest,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23thousands of French words entered the English language.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26At first, they were the words of power...
0:14:29 > 0:14:31..politics...
0:14:33 > 0:14:35..and law.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42But soon the language reflected Norman influence in every aspect of life.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54Some of the new words were very important, like "war"
0:14:54 > 0:14:56and "peace", "justice" and "court".
0:14:56 > 0:15:02And the reason the modern English language has so many different words for the same thing
0:15:02 > 0:15:05is that the Normans introduced French alternatives.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08So "royal" is derived from the French.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10"Kingly" or "queenly"
0:15:10 > 0:15:12from the Old English.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15The same with "country" - French.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17"Land" - English.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19"Amorous" - French.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21"Loving" - English.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26One of the things that can make Anglo-Saxon history
0:15:26 > 0:15:34seem strange or distant to us is the unfamiliarity of the names, the Ethelberts and Egberts.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38The Norman names - William, Henry, Richard, Robert -
0:15:38 > 0:15:43caught on amongst the conquered, and endure to this day.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45The ruling elite set the fashion.
0:15:45 > 0:15:52Soon William was the most common male name in England, even amongst the peasantry.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56Surnames beginning with "fitz"
0:15:56 > 0:16:02go back to the Norman practice of using "fils", meaning "son of", as part of the name,
0:16:02 > 0:16:08giving "Fitzsimmons", son of Simon, or "Fitzgerald", son of Gerald.
0:16:09 > 0:16:15The languages were blending together but French remained the tongue of the ruling class.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19And nowhere are these class divisions clearer than with meat and drink.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24"Pig" is English, "pork" French.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28"Sheep" is English, "mutton" French.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32So when it's in a cold and muddy field, covered in dung, it's named in English.
0:16:32 > 0:16:39When it's been cooked and carved and put on the table with a glass of wine, it's referred to in French.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49This association of "Frenchness" with the English upper class
0:16:49 > 0:16:53and Anglo-Saxon with coarseness and vulgarity
0:16:53 > 0:16:56is one of the Normans' most enduring legacies.
0:16:57 > 0:17:05But over the decades, the cultural distinction between Normans and Anglo-Saxons gradually evaporated
0:17:05 > 0:17:12and English evolved and prospered to become one of the most influential languages in the world.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15About 100 years after the Battle of Hastings,
0:17:15 > 0:17:19the King's treasurer, Richard Fitzneal, wrote that,
0:17:19 > 0:17:24"with the Normans and the English living side by side and inter-marrying,
0:17:24 > 0:17:26"the peoples have become so mingled
0:17:26 > 0:17:32"that nowadays it's impossible to tell who is of English and who of Norman descent."
0:17:32 > 0:17:37And French, the language of power of the Normans, was, by 1500,
0:17:37 > 0:17:41simply a foreign tongue to be learnt at school.
0:17:44 > 0:17:51But under William's rule, some Anglo-Saxons were still trying to resist Norman occupation.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06A few years after the conquest, an exiled English rebel called Hereward
0:18:06 > 0:18:10secretly returned to eastern England.
0:18:15 > 0:18:20When Hereward entered the house of one of his father's knights, he found them all in mourning.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24Only the day before, his younger brother had been killed by the Normans.
0:18:24 > 0:18:29His severed head was hanging above the door of the family house.
0:18:35 > 0:18:41Hereward found a group of drunken Normans still singing and celebrating.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45He jumped from the shadows and slaughtered them.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57When he left the house, Hereward hung the severed heads
0:18:57 > 0:19:00of the Normans above the door, in place of his brother's.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04His legend grew. Later he would be called Hereward the Wake.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07Some say because he was "ever watchful".
0:19:07 > 0:19:09Whatever the reason,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13Hereward was now ready to wage guerrilla war against the Normans.
0:19:21 > 0:19:26Like the rebels in the north, Hereward formed an alliance with the Danes.
0:19:33 > 0:19:38The Fens in the east of England became the centre of their revolt.
0:19:42 > 0:19:50This watery wasteland was studded with small islands, perfect hiding places for the rebels.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58Hereward was holed up in the island monastery of Ely.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02The Fens provided a natural defensive position.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05And because the rebels had stocked Ely with supplies of food,
0:20:05 > 0:20:09Hereward was confident that he could survive the longest siege.
0:20:17 > 0:20:23The rebels had local allies who helped them find their way across the treacherous marshes.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39William prepared a major offensive against Ely.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47He constructed a long wooden ramp to gain access to the island.
0:20:51 > 0:20:56The Normans rushed across the causeway, eager for the loot they hoped to obtain,
0:20:56 > 0:20:59but under their weight, the causeway collapsed.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03In their heavy mail coats, the Norman knights had no chance.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05They sank into the muddy water.
0:21:05 > 0:21:11Skeletons in rotting armour were still being pulled from the fen many years later.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18For the next attack, William brought in siege machines.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22He also summoned supernatural forces.
0:21:22 > 0:21:27An old witch was recruited to terrorise the rebels.
0:21:27 > 0:21:32She was placed on a raised platform in the middle of his troops.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39From her lofty position, she ranted at the isle and all who dwelled there.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42She threatened destruction and defeat,
0:21:42 > 0:21:48and she always concluded her incantations by flashing her bare backside at them.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55Now Hereward set fire to the Fens.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00The platform burned down and the witch broke her neck.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03But it was too late.
0:22:03 > 0:22:10Local monks had betrayed the rebels, and led the Norman army along a secret path to the island.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22Hereward's forces were defeated.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38William, victorious, marched on.
0:22:38 > 0:22:44And work soon began on another monumental symbol of Norman authority,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47the magnificent abbey church at Ely.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05The Normans were among the greatest church builders in Europe.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14Alongside hundreds of castles, they built abbeys and cathedrals
0:23:14 > 0:23:18on a scale never seen before in England.
0:23:32 > 0:23:38In Normandy, they'd used them to proclaim their fervent Christianity, wealth and power.
0:23:41 > 0:23:48Now they were stamping the same monumental style over their newly conquered territory.
0:23:48 > 0:23:54Ely Cathedral has the Norman trademark stone columns and soaring arches.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58It also has one of the longest naves in the country.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Cathedrals like this were built to last.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16Scarcely a stone survives from the cathedrals of Anglo-Saxon England,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20but go to Ely, or Durham, or Gloucester, or Winchester,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24and you can still see the magnificent churches the Normans built.
0:24:24 > 0:24:29They were imposing sights and also a permanent reminder
0:24:29 > 0:24:33to the Anglo-Saxons that they were a conquered people.
0:24:51 > 0:24:5720 years into his reign, William launched an entirely new venture.
0:24:59 > 0:25:04Until now, he hadn't tampered with England's efficient tax system.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08It was still pouring silver into the royal treasury.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12But now his tactics changed.
0:25:22 > 0:25:28In 1086, Norman officials arrived in towns and villages all over England.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35They came with soldiers, but they were also armed with parchment and ink.
0:25:39 > 0:25:46These were William's commissioners and they summoned apprehensive men from every village in the shire.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52The commissioners asked the following questions:
0:25:52 > 0:25:53"What is the name of the manor?
0:25:53 > 0:25:57"Who held it in the time of King Edward? Who holds it now?
0:25:57 > 0:26:00"How many hides of land are there? How many ploughs belonging to the lord?
0:26:00 > 0:26:05"How many belonging to the peasants? How many villagers are there in the manor? How many cottagers?
0:26:05 > 0:26:08"How much meadow? How many mills?"
0:26:13 > 0:26:19These questions were being asked in public inquests all over England.
0:26:19 > 0:26:25The Normans had begun the greatest national audit ever undertaken in Europe.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30The Survey Of The Whole Of England
0:26:30 > 0:26:32is what the Normans called it,
0:26:32 > 0:26:38but the English people, whose homes and fields, livelihoods and livestock it catalogued,
0:26:38 > 0:26:43had another name for it - Domesday, the Day of Judgement.
0:26:49 > 0:26:55The Domesday inquisition was carried out with characteristic Norman energy and discipline.
0:26:57 > 0:27:03Within six months, almost the whole country had been assessed and documented.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20And this is the final document, Domesday Book itself.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24The smaller volume is a detailed survey of East Anglia,
0:27:24 > 0:27:29the larger volume, a survey of the rest of the country - Great Domesday, it's called.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34It was written throughout by one scribe who used running headings,
0:27:34 > 0:27:38red ink and capitals to pick out individual entries.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41It's a masterpiece of design and layout.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45We're not sure why William commissioned Domesday.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50But the very last question asked by the survey gives us a clue.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53"Can more be had than is had?"
0:27:53 > 0:27:55William was looking for more money.
0:27:59 > 0:28:05Domesday Book gives us a unique insight into the Anglo-Norman world.
0:28:05 > 0:28:11And it gave William more information about his kingdom than any previous English king.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18We know, for example, that this was an overwhelmingly rural society.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22No more than 5% or 10% of the population lived in towns.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27Domesday tells us there were 6,000 mills in the country.
0:28:27 > 0:28:34And we know that on the lords' farms in East Anglia, there were 150,000 sheep and 35,000 pigs.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41The Domesday entry for the village of Gidding near Huntingdon
0:28:41 > 0:28:47records that 65 peasant families worked the land here in 1086.
0:28:47 > 0:28:52It also shows what the conquest of England meant for ordinary Anglo-Saxons.
0:29:01 > 0:29:06Domesday Book tells us that most of Gidding had passed into the hands of Norman lords,
0:29:06 > 0:29:08William Engaine and Eustace the sheriff.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11And it records the moment of dispossession.
0:29:11 > 0:29:17"In Gidding there are six free men, Alfwold and his five brothers.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19"Now Eustace holds that land.
0:29:19 > 0:29:25"Alfwold and his brothers claim that Eustace took the land from them unjustly."
0:29:25 > 0:29:31In those simple words, we have a stark image of the Anglo-Saxon dispossessed by the Normans.
0:29:33 > 0:29:39Domesday reveals that every level of Anglo-Saxon society
0:29:39 > 0:29:42was turned upside down by the conquest.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46And it's not surprising who gained most from the process.
0:29:49 > 0:29:54The King and his family possessed about 20% of the wealth of England.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57Another 25% was in the hands of the Church.
0:29:57 > 0:30:02Of the remaining 55%, the vast majority, half of England,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05was now in the hands of Norman barons,
0:30:05 > 0:30:11leaving a bare 5% to the surviving old English nobles.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17This was the most complete replacement
0:30:17 > 0:30:22of one ruling class by another ever recorded in English history.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35As a result of William's new authority in England,
0:30:35 > 0:30:40Normandy was now one of the most powerful principalities in France.
0:30:43 > 0:30:48But in 1087, he had to defend his duchy from a French invasion.
0:30:56 > 0:31:02He routed the French army, quickly took the town of Mantes and burned it to the ground.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11But the battle ended badly for William.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19By now, William was about 60 years of age and very fat.
0:31:19 > 0:31:24One report says that his horse stumbled in the burning ruins of Mantes
0:31:24 > 0:31:29and the pommel of the saddle pierced the King's distended belly.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33He was carried back to a quiet priory in Normandy to recover.
0:31:39 > 0:31:45The injured King was taken to the priory of St Gervais near Rouen.
0:31:48 > 0:31:54All that remains from that time is the ancient crypt beneath the 19th century church.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03Clergy and aristocracy gathered around the King's bed.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08William begged them to pray for him.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14According to the historian Orderic Vitalis,
0:32:14 > 0:32:19he also made a surprising confession of his sins against the English.
0:32:22 > 0:32:27"I hated the native sons of the kingdom more than was just.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31"I cruelly mistreated both the nobles and the common people.
0:32:31 > 0:32:38"I unjustly dispossessed many and I killed a countless multitude by sword and famine."
0:32:38 > 0:32:42This doesn't sound like the William we know,
0:32:42 > 0:32:46but Orderic was the son of an English mother and a Norman father,
0:32:46 > 0:32:50so must have had complicated feelings about William the Conqueror
0:32:50 > 0:32:58and, as a good monk, he gave William the kind of deathbed speech that a repentant King ought to have made.
0:33:05 > 0:33:07Whatever his final words,
0:33:07 > 0:33:13soon after dawn on the 9th September, 1087, William died.
0:33:21 > 0:33:27According to Orderic, when the citizens of Rouen heard the news they were completely terrified,
0:33:27 > 0:33:29rushing around like drunken men
0:33:29 > 0:33:33and hiding away their possessions in fear.
0:33:33 > 0:33:39His knights and barons immediately left William's body, rushing off to protect their estates.
0:33:43 > 0:33:48Looters now descended on William's body.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51The man who'd been anointed King of England
0:33:51 > 0:33:56was stripped of his possessions and left almost naked on the floor.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03But worse was to follow.
0:34:07 > 0:34:13Before his funeral, it was discovered that the specially prepared stone sarcophagus
0:34:13 > 0:34:16was too small to contain the King's body.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24The monks attempted to force William's corpse into the space.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28According to Orderic, "His swollen belly burst,
0:34:28 > 0:34:32"and an intolerable stench filled the noses of the crowd.
0:34:32 > 0:34:37"Even the sweet smell of the incense used in the service couldn't mask it."
0:34:37 > 0:34:44And so the funeral rites of the most powerful man in Europe were rushed to a hasty conclusion.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07The Conqueror was dead.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10But his legacy would endure.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15For the next 500 years, the kings and queens of England
0:35:15 > 0:35:20would also rule a large part of northern France.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23Britain's ties with Scandinavia were broken.
0:35:23 > 0:35:31To this day, the country still looks south to mainland Europe for its alliances and influences.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38England was now a Norman fortress.
0:35:38 > 0:35:44Beyond lay Scotland, Wales and Ireland - three different lands,
0:35:44 > 0:35:46three different encounters with the Normans,
0:35:46 > 0:35:51three different legacies that endure to this day.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06First came Scotland, with its own royal dynasty,
0:36:06 > 0:36:10but poorer than England, and weakened by internal divisions.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19The Normans didn't have to fight for Scotland.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21They were invited in.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33Dunfermline Abbey in Fife,
0:36:33 > 0:36:39founded before the end of the 11th century by Margaret, Queen of Scotland.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46Margaret was a member of the Anglo-Saxon royal dynasty.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50She fled to Scotland after the Battle of Hastings,
0:36:50 > 0:36:55took refuge in the court of King Malcolm, and became his wife.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01Margaret was a formidable figure,
0:37:01 > 0:37:05with the blood of the old Anglo-Saxon kings flowing in her veins.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09She insisted on a new level of ceremony in the Scottish royal court.
0:37:09 > 0:37:13And she was also a determined and active Christian
0:37:13 > 0:37:17who prayed, studied the Bible and did good works for the poor.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22She and her children would initiate a transformation of Scotland
0:37:22 > 0:37:29that would make it more like Norman England, but also strong enough to resist it.
0:37:32 > 0:37:37After her death in 1093, Margaret was regarded as a saint.
0:37:37 > 0:37:42Her son David continued his mother's work on this grand abbey.
0:37:52 > 0:37:57Dunfermline Abbey was built as a burial place for Scottish kings and queens.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01Margaret, Malcolm and three of their sons all lie here.
0:38:07 > 0:38:12It was built by a Scottish king, but in the finest Norman style.
0:38:23 > 0:38:29In Scotland, this Norman masterpiece wasn't a declaration of conquest.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32It was the symbol of a new alliance.
0:38:34 > 0:38:42David's sister was married to the youngest son of William the Conqueror, King Henry I of England.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46And David took full advantage of this family connection.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55As brother-in-law of the English king,
0:38:55 > 0:39:02David had already won rich prizes - land, office, and the title of earl.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06And as a relative of the English king, he was unafraid of the Norman barons.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10He understood that Norman knights and castles
0:39:10 > 0:39:14could be used to buttress his kingdom rather than destroy it.
0:39:16 > 0:39:23When David became king in 1124, he invited large numbers of Norman knights to settle in Scotland.
0:39:34 > 0:39:40At this period, there was no fundamental barrier to being a lord both in Scotland and in England.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42That was the Norman way.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44And for David, it was perfect,
0:39:44 > 0:39:49because it made Scotland more able to resist conquest from the south.
0:39:56 > 0:40:03As Norman castles went up across the land, they also helped subdue the King's Scottish opponents.
0:40:03 > 0:40:08By 1150, David had turned Scotland into a thriving European kingdom.
0:40:09 > 0:40:14He addressed his royal charters "To all his officials and good men
0:40:14 > 0:40:20"of the whole kingdom - French, Scottish, English and others born elsewhere."
0:40:22 > 0:40:28Scotland was a multi-ethnic country united under its own royal dynasty.
0:40:33 > 0:40:38At the end of the Middle Ages, Scotland survived intact as an independent kingdom.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41Margaret and her descendents had ensured that.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45It was a country partly settled and shaped by the Normans,
0:40:45 > 0:40:49but still with its own laws, its own currency, its own identity.
0:40:49 > 0:40:56A sovereign nation set apart from England in a way that has consequences to this day.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07The story in Wales was very different.
0:41:07 > 0:41:14Here the Normans came as conquerors into a land where many Welsh princes were fighting among themselves.
0:41:21 > 0:41:26William's forces laid the foundations of their first stone castle in Wales
0:41:26 > 0:41:29here at Chepstow in 1067.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33A monumental keep, designed to intimidate.
0:41:47 > 0:41:53This was the base from which the Normans intended to penetrate deeper into Wales.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58But it wasn't going to be easy.
0:42:08 > 0:42:13To conquer England, William had to defeat one Anglo-Saxon king.
0:42:13 > 0:42:18In Wales, the Normans faced many competing princes and independent principalities.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21England had been conquered in a day.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24The Normans took Wales piece by piece.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39The conquest of Wales took 200 years.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44Norman knights and barons settled in the valleys and coastal plains,
0:42:44 > 0:42:48sometimes inter-marrying with the Welsh princely families.
0:42:58 > 0:43:04This is Cilgerran Castle, in the border country known as The March Of Wales.
0:43:09 > 0:43:14In the 12th century, it was the home of a Welsh princess called Nesta.
0:43:15 > 0:43:19She had married one of the Norman settlers, Gerald of Windsor.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26Nesta was a famous beauty.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29It appears that men found her irresistible.
0:43:29 > 0:43:34Her cousin, Owain ap Cadwgan of Powys, was inflamed with passion for her.
0:43:34 > 0:43:39One night, he and 15 companions burrowed under the castle door
0:43:39 > 0:43:42intending to torch the place and abduct Nesta.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45Her husband would surely have been killed.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49But the quick-thinking Nesta ensured that Gerald of Windsor escaped
0:43:49 > 0:43:52down the toilet chute.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14Nesta's sons and grandsons dominated south Wales in the 12th century.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22They became part of a new Anglo-Welsh aristocracy,
0:44:22 > 0:44:26which maintained an uneasy autonomy from the English throne.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30They were known as The Marcher Lords,
0:44:30 > 0:44:32the lords of the frontier.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41The Marcher Lords were fiercely independent.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43In Wales, they were the ultimate authority,
0:44:43 > 0:44:48with their own law-courts, chanceries and the right to make peace and war.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52In the 13th century, one unfortunate messenger who turned up in the March
0:44:52 > 0:44:57with a royal writ, was forced to eat it, along with its wax seal.
0:44:57 > 0:45:01The King's writ did not run in the March.
0:45:12 > 0:45:17Nesta's descendants were at the forefront of the next phase of Norman expansion.
0:45:17 > 0:45:19But they weren't all warriors.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21One was an influential clergyman.
0:45:23 > 0:45:29He grew up here at Manorbier Castle on the south-west coast of Pembrokeshire.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32His name was Gerald of Wales.
0:45:35 > 0:45:39Gerald was destined for the Church from birth.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43His older brothers wanted to become knights, like their father.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47While they were building sand castles on the beach at Manorbier,
0:45:47 > 0:45:50Gerald was busy constructing sand churches.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54He was given the best literary education his age could provide.
0:45:54 > 0:45:58And he went on to become one of the great historians of his time.
0:46:02 > 0:46:08Gerald of Wales would write the most vivid account of the Norman expansion into Ireland.
0:46:10 > 0:46:15He records that in 1166, Dermot Macmurrough, the deposed ruler
0:46:15 > 0:46:19of the Irish kingdom of Leinster, was trying to win back his throne.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23He enlisted Norman mercenaries,
0:46:23 > 0:46:28with promises of "land and money, horses and armour, gold and silver".
0:46:30 > 0:46:38Dermot found eager recruits among the Marcher Lords, many of them sons and grandsons of Nesta
0:46:38 > 0:46:41and Gerald of Windsor - the Fitzgeralds.
0:46:44 > 0:46:51Gerald of Wales recorded the exploits of his warrior relatives with a large dose of family pride.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54"Who are those who penetrate to the heart of the enemy?
0:46:54 > 0:46:56"The Fitzgeralds.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58"Who are those who preserve the country?
0:46:58 > 0:46:59"The Fitzgeralds.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02"Who are they whom the enemy fears?
0:47:02 > 0:47:04"The Fitzgeralds."
0:47:04 > 0:47:07The Normans were on their way to Ireland.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29Ireland was a collection of warring Christian kingdoms.
0:47:30 > 0:47:38The first army of Norman mercenaries landed on the south coast, here at Bannow Bay, in 1169.
0:47:38 > 0:47:4330 knights, 60 men at arms, and 300 archers.
0:47:47 > 0:47:54The actions of this tiny force of Norman Welsh lords would establish links between England and Ireland
0:47:54 > 0:47:59that have been a determining feature of Irish history to this day.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10Joining forces with the Fitzgeralds was another Norman,
0:48:10 > 0:48:15Richard Fitzgilbert de Clare, better known as Strongbow.
0:48:25 > 0:48:30Strongbow could trace his descent right back to the dukes of Normandy,
0:48:30 > 0:48:33and his family had been amongst the richest in England.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36But Strongbow had fallen on hard times.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40He came to Ireland attracted by Dermot's offer of riches.
0:48:40 > 0:48:46And the Irish King had also promised his daughter Aoife in marriage.
0:48:49 > 0:48:55Under the leadership of another Fitzgerald, Raymond le Gros, or Raymond the Fat,
0:48:55 > 0:48:58Strongbow's forces prepared for the next assault.
0:49:01 > 0:49:06They landed here, at Baginbun, in the spring of 1170.
0:49:06 > 0:49:11Centuries later, the battle was still remembered in a traditional rhyme.
0:49:11 > 0:49:16"At the creek of Baginbun, Ireland was lost and won."
0:49:19 > 0:49:23The small but deadly Norman army was heavily outnumbered by the Irish forces.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27100 Normans versus 3,000 Irish.
0:49:27 > 0:49:32But Raymond cunningly drove a herd of cattle into the Irish ranks, causing chaos.
0:49:32 > 0:49:38And the Normans took advantage of the confusion to slaughter 500 of their enemy and take 70 prisoners.
0:49:48 > 0:49:54One of the Marcher knights had brought his mistress with him on campaign, Alice of Abergavenny.
0:49:57 > 0:50:03The lover of Alice of Abergavenny was one of the Marchers killed in the battle.
0:50:03 > 0:50:05Her revenge was ruthless.
0:50:05 > 0:50:11Wielding an axe, she beheaded each one of the prisoners with her own hands,
0:50:11 > 0:50:17and the decapitated bodies were then tossed off the cliffs into the sea below.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36Not long afterwards, 200 knights and 1,000 infantry
0:50:36 > 0:50:40under Strongbow's leadership stormed the town of Waterford.
0:50:44 > 0:50:49The Norman mercenaries would quickly restore Dermot to power.
0:50:59 > 0:51:04The day after his victory, with the bodies of the dead still piled in the streets,
0:51:04 > 0:51:07Strongbow won his prize and married Dermot's daughter.
0:51:07 > 0:51:12Soon afterwards, he succeeded Dermot as ruler of Leinster.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16Waterford, Wexford and Dublin were in his hands.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20Another Norman knight had conquered a kingdom.
0:51:24 > 0:51:30Back in England, Henry II, great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was worried.
0:51:30 > 0:51:37This band of independent Normans appeared to be setting up a power-base across the Irish Sea.
0:51:39 > 0:51:46In 1171, Henry became the first king of England to land on Irish shores.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48And he came with a huge army.
0:51:51 > 0:51:57400 ships carrying 4,000 soldiers and 500 knights.
0:51:59 > 0:52:01But this was a bloodless invasion.
0:52:03 > 0:52:08The Irish kings knew it was pointless to resist such a vast force.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11Strongbow, too, capitulated.
0:52:17 > 0:52:24When Henry returned to England six months later, he left a royal representative in Dublin,
0:52:24 > 0:52:29an English presence that would remain for more than 700 years.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32Ireland was England's first colony.
0:52:32 > 0:52:37The first colonial institutions were moulded here.
0:52:37 > 0:52:42And it was also the crucible of a new colonialist mentality.
0:52:56 > 0:53:03In the National Library of Ireland, there's a remarkable manuscript dating to the late 12th century.
0:53:03 > 0:53:05The Topography Of Ireland.
0:53:09 > 0:53:16This is Gerald of Wales' extraordinary account of Ireland in an age of conquest.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21And it reveals the emergence of a new attitude towards conquered peoples.
0:53:24 > 0:53:31Gerald tells a story about some Anglo-Norman sailors driven to shore by a storm in the Atlantic.
0:53:31 > 0:53:36They encounter a little boat being rowed by two Irishmen.
0:53:40 > 0:53:42Here they are,
0:53:42 > 0:53:44portrayed almost completely naked.
0:53:44 > 0:53:48And nakedness is, of course, one of the great symbols of savagery.
0:53:48 > 0:53:53These Irishmen marvel at everything they see, as if it's quite unfamiliar.
0:53:53 > 0:53:59When they are offered bread and cheese, they decline it, not knowing what these things are.
0:53:59 > 0:54:04They say they are accustomed to eat only raw meat, fish and milk.
0:54:08 > 0:54:14Nor is their religious education anywhere near civilised standards.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17"When asked whether they were Christians and had been baptised,
0:54:17 > 0:54:22"they answered that until now they had heard nothing of Christ and knew nothing about him."
0:54:26 > 0:54:28The story must be an invention.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32The Irish were converted to Christianity long before the English.
0:54:32 > 0:54:39What Gerald is doing is creating a powerful image of nakedness, rawness and religious ignorance.
0:54:39 > 0:54:43He is justifying the Norman conquest and colonisation in Ireland
0:54:43 > 0:54:48by portraying the native Irish as backward and barbaric.
0:55:08 > 0:55:14The Normans colonised and exploited the fertile coastal plains of Ireland.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18The poorer areas were left to the native Irish.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24This gulf between the English and the Irish has never been bridged.
0:55:26 > 0:55:31Ireland remains divided, not exactly as it was in the Middle Ages,
0:55:31 > 0:55:35but as a direct consequence of the Norman invasion.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42In England and in Scotland, the Norman story is one of
0:55:42 > 0:55:47assimilation, inter-marriage and adaptation to local society.
0:55:49 > 0:55:55But in Ireland, the colonisers thought they were superior to the colonised.
0:55:55 > 0:56:01They treated them with disdain and emphasised separation and distance, not integration.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04They had taken a turn that was to be crucial
0:56:04 > 0:56:09in the later history of European imperialism across the globe.
0:56:21 > 0:56:29The Norman expansion into England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland was a decisive historic intervention.
0:56:30 > 0:56:35In different ways, it shaped the future of each of these lands.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45The Normans conquered England so thoroughly
0:56:45 > 0:56:49that the native royal dynasty and aristocracy disappeared forever.
0:56:49 > 0:56:56Scotland found a way to do business with the Normans, and has survived as a country distinct from England -
0:56:56 > 0:57:02separate if not sovereign, with its own law, church and educational system.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05Wales and Ireland became half-conquered countries.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09Bitter divisions have flared up regularly ever since.
0:57:09 > 0:57:14The Normans didn't only conquer England in 1066, they went on to
0:57:14 > 0:57:20create the political and cultural landscape of Britain and Ireland that we know to this day.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35In the next programme:
0:57:35 > 0:57:38The Normans colonise southern Italy.
0:57:40 > 0:57:43They join the Crusades and capture Jerusalem.
0:57:46 > 0:57:53And they become patrons of architecture and the arts in the multi-ethnic Kingdom of Sicily.
0:57:56 > 0:58:00And you can find Norman castles, churches and battle fields to visit
0:58:00 > 0:58:07in your area by searching our online map at bbc.co.uk/history.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:12 > 0:58:15Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk.