1 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:14,200 Falaise Castle, in northern France. 2 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:19,480 The year is 1027. 3 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:25,960 A young girl is tormented by a strange dream. 4 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:36,480 An enormous tree bursts out from deep within her belly. 5 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:43,560 Its branches spread and grow until it towers over the whole of Normandy... 6 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:49,320 ..and then across the water to overshadow England too. 7 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:56,120 The girl's name was Herleva, 8 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:59,120 the daughter of the town's embalmer. 9 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:02,720 And something WAS growing inside her. 10 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:07,240 She'd just been seduced by the younger brother of the Duke of Normandy. 11 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,120 Herleva's dream is only a legend, 12 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:15,640 written down 100 years after the event. 13 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:18,800 But it contains one historical certainty - 14 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:21,520 she HAD conceived a son that night. 15 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,080 He would be known as William the Bastard. 16 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:27,520 Later, he would earn another title 17 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:30,680 by which he would go down in history - 18 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:32,960 William the Conqueror, 19 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:36,240 Duke of Normandy and King of England. 20 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:44,040 William's victory at the Battle of Hastings 21 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:49,000 has given us England's most famous date - 1066. 22 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:53,520 But this wasn't just a battle. 23 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,360 It was a momentous turning point in European history. 24 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:02,920 In the years that followed, the Normans transformed England 25 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,640 and then the rest of Britain and Ireland. 26 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,960 They helped forge the English language. 27 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,400 They built monumental cathedrals and castles, 28 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:15,760 including the Tower of London. 29 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:23,960 The Conqueror's legacy would leave a permanent mark on British history. 30 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:29,120 But the Normans didn't stop there. 31 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,160 They also left a deep imprint across Europe, 32 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:35,960 from northern France... 33 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:41,000 ..to southern Italy... 34 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:45,200 ..and on to the Middle East 35 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:47,120 and Jerusalem. 36 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:53,000 The Normans were an ambitious band of warriors, 37 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,760 hungry for land, wealth and power, 38 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:00,280 but also for spiritual inspiration and knowledge. 39 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:05,040 They would become great patrons of European art... 40 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:07,640 ..and architecture. 41 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:11,000 Everywhere they went, 42 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,200 the Normans transformed the language, culture and politics 43 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,480 in ways that can still be seen right across Europe to this day. 44 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:22,480 Herleva's dream is a great Norman myth, 45 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:27,120 designed obviously to glamorise William and add to his mystique. 46 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:30,120 But the story contains a simple truth - 47 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:32,840 the Norman hour was approaching. 48 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:53,000 1066 wasn't England's first encounter with the Normans. 49 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:03,680 In the year 793, their ancestors sailed across the North Sea 50 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:06,360 from Scandinavia. 51 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:15,480 Monks on the tiny English island of Lindisfarne were their first victims. 52 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:24,600 The 8th-century cleric Alcuin of York described the carnage. 53 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,680 "Never before has such terror appeared in Britain. 54 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:30,120 "Behold the church of St Cuthbert, 55 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:34,960 "splattered with the blood of God's priests, robbed of its ornaments." 56 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:38,520 The Vikings had struck for the first time. 57 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,560 For 300 years, the Vikings burned and murdered their way 58 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:48,200 across the Continent, 59 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:52,040 sailing thousands of miles in search of wealth and power. 60 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:01,600 With their formidable longboats and pagan gods, 61 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:05,040 the Vikings terrorised northern and eastern England, 62 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:07,080 sailed to the Mediterranean, 63 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:11,280 and across the Atlantic as far as North America. 64 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:20,800 But the place where the Viking story took its most remarkable turn 65 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:24,240 was just across the Channel from England in northern France. 66 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:27,000 One of the most successful Viking settlements of them all 67 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:28,440 took root here. 68 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:34,320 It even took its name from them - "Land of the Northmen", Normandy. 69 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:42,840 The Vikings began raiding the Seine Valley in northern France 70 00:05:42,840 --> 00:05:44,880 in the middle of the 9th century. 71 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,360 According to the 11th-century French historian 72 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:51,160 Dudo of St Quentin, 73 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:53,800 they liked what they saw. 74 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:57,680 "This land is rich and fertile with crops of all kinds, 75 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:00,280 "criss-crossed with rivers full of fish, 76 00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:03,280 "and rich in game for the hunting. 77 00:06:03,280 --> 00:06:08,040 "Let us subject it to our own power and claim it as our own." 78 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:13,200 Norman history starts here. 79 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:18,760 The Vikings sailed up the River Seine, 80 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:23,160 stripping and destroying the wealthy, but very poorly defended, monasteries, 81 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:25,360 like this one at Jumieges. 82 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:29,080 These walls are the only part of the church remaining 83 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:32,040 from the ones that the Vikings destroyed. 84 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:35,560 And since the monks were the ones who wrote the histories, 85 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,080 it's hardly surprising that they gave the Vikings 86 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:39,960 a very bad press indeed. 87 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:50,280 But the Vikings' reputation was about to change. 88 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:56,720 France in the 10th century was in a state of political fragmentation. 89 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:00,640 The great empire of Charlemagne 90 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:03,280 that covered most of modern France, Germany and Italy 91 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:06,320 had disintegrated in the 9th century. 92 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:12,920 France was now a series of warring principalities. 93 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:17,480 The king had little authority. 94 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:22,360 Northern France was there for the taking. 95 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:25,400 But this band of Vikings soon realised 96 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:30,040 that holding on to territory and power required new tactics. 97 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,400 The Vikings were led by a Norwegian giant called Rollo. 98 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,920 He was said to be so large that no horse could carry him, 99 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:41,720 so he went everywhere on foot 100 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:45,600 and earned the nickname "Rollo the Ganger" - Rollo the Walker. 101 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:50,080 He was skilled with the usual Viking tools of violence and chaos. 102 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:53,040 But he also cultivated the local nobility 103 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:56,280 and even married the daughter of a French noble. 104 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,520 This was to be the model of Norman power - 105 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:02,640 conquest through terror and force, 106 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:08,560 but then settlement, intermarriage, adaptation to local society. 107 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:20,800 By the start of the 10th century, Rollo's Vikings were unstoppable. 108 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:26,880 Charles, King of France, had no choice but to do a deal. 109 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:32,440 In 911, tradition has it that Rollo and the king met here 110 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:35,440 by the river at St-Clair-sur-Epte. 111 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:42,800 Rollo realised that the route to power called for diplomacy. 112 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:49,040 So he swore loyalty to the king, 113 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:53,320 agreed to protect him from other Viking raiders, 114 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:56,000 and promised to convert to Christianity. 115 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:02,720 In return, the king offered Rollo all the land 116 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:04,800 between the river and the sea. 117 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:10,840 The province of Normandy was born. 118 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:19,240 To seal the deal, the king insisted on the ritual kissing of the foot. 119 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:21,040 Rollo refused. 120 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:26,720 "I shall never bow my knees to the knees of any other man, nor kiss anyone's foot." 121 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:30,080 So he delegated the task to one of his followers, 122 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:34,120 who bent down, grabbed the king's foot, brought it to his mouth 123 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:36,680 and sent the king toppling backwards. 124 00:09:36,680 --> 00:09:40,360 It was an early indication that the Normans had no intention 125 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:42,640 of being ruled by anyone. 126 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,240 Rollo didn't simply turn Normandy into another Viking war camp. 127 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:55,240 He took the city of Rouen as his capital, 128 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:59,400 and the Normans became part of a great act of political transformation. 129 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:06,800 In the course of just two generations, 130 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,360 they doubled their territory and turned Normandy 131 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:14,520 into one of the most powerful principalities in France. 132 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:21,040 The Viking minority ruled over their French subjects. 133 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:25,280 But they took Rollo's lead and learned from them too. 134 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,800 The Normans became French. 135 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:32,320 They married local women. 136 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:34,960 They became wine drinkers. 137 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:39,560 And within a generation or two, they'd abandoned their Scandinavian language. 138 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:48,040 These marauding warriors realised that to make wealth and power permanent, 139 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:50,320 they had to learn how to run a state. 140 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:55,040 And their new neighbours showed them how. 141 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:02,440 The Normans willingly adopted the French social structure 142 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:04,800 and administrative and legal systems. 143 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:12,960 They mastered them with their customary ferocious energy and ambition. 144 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:19,160 Rouen's Museum of Antiquities 145 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:22,760 contains a powerful symbol of this process. 146 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,920 This is a coin that dates from the middle of the 10th century, 147 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:42,680 from the reign of Rollo's son, William Longsword. 148 00:11:42,680 --> 00:11:44,440 You can make out the letters 149 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:50,360 W-I-L-E-L-M-U-S, Wilelmus, 150 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:52,200 the Latin for William. 151 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:58,320 This is the first time a French territorial prince 152 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:03,320 had put his own name on a coin, with no reference to the King of France. 153 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:07,160 So this tiny object is a symbol of Norman power 154 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:10,240 and the Normans' amazing audacity. 155 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:20,600 Wealth for the Normans was no longer simply booty to be looted. 156 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:24,440 They now presided over a settled economy. 157 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:27,240 They were fast learners, 158 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:31,120 turning their newly conquered land into a fully functioning medieval state... 159 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:37,120 ..based on land ownership, social hierarchy and efficient government. 160 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:44,360 This was a culture rooted in order and permanence, 161 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:46,200 not anarchy and terror. 162 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:52,680 It would make the Normans even more formidable than their Viking ancestors. 163 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:58,760 But the Normans didn't completely lose touch with their Viking past. 164 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:05,200 Any attempts to revolt against the new order were brutally repressed. 165 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:09,360 In the last decade of the 10th century, 166 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:13,160 the Norman peasantry attempted to oppose the aristocrats. 167 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:23,240 The Norman historian William of Jumieges describes their reaction. 168 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:26,120 "The duke sent a large number of knights 169 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:29,680 "who seized the peasants' leaders and many others, 170 00:13:29,680 --> 00:13:33,480 "cut off their hands and feet and left them helpless." 171 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:37,760 This peasants' revolt was quickly abandoned. 172 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:51,000 A band of Viking pirates had become a powerful political force. 173 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,080 But it didn't stop there. 174 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:59,480 Their reinvention encompassed heaven as well as earth. 175 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:03,600 The Normans now had a new god as well as a new politics. 176 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:14,840 And as with everything they did, 177 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:18,520 they embraced their new religion with fierce enthusiasm. 178 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:27,600 Rollo kept his promise to the king and converted to Christianity. 179 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:30,080 Some people doubted his commitment. 180 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:33,640 One French historian even claimed that on his deathbed 181 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:38,320 Rollo had 100 men decapitated to appease the pagan gods. 182 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:42,600 But Rollo and his successors turned to Christianity with the same energy 183 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:44,720 that they had applied to conquest. 184 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:47,600 His ancestors had burned churches. 185 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:49,320 They built them. 186 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:54,080 And this monastery at Mont St Michel was one of their favourite projects. 187 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:16,160 The monastery of Mont St Michel was founded 188 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:20,120 on an island off the coast of Normandy in the 8th century. 189 00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:29,600 It soon became one of the major Christian pilgrimage sites. 190 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:39,120 It's dedicated to the Archangel St Michael, the warrior saint. 191 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:44,640 So it's little surprise that the Normans came to worship here. 192 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:51,840 By the middle of the 10th century, 193 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:55,080 they were Mont St Michel's most generous sponsors. 194 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:03,760 They built the oldest part of the monastery. 195 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:07,280 It lies behind this door. 196 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:28,600 This is the chapel of Notre Dame Sous Terre - 197 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:30,840 Our Lady Beneath the Ground. 198 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:34,560 It was built in the 10th century 199 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,760 during the reign of Duke Richard I, Rollo's grandson, 200 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:41,600 and is the earliest surviving example of Norman architecture. 201 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:47,880 It's a simple chapel, typical of the French style of the era, 202 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:53,040 with its plain arches, rectangular supports and small windows. 203 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:59,880 But within 50 years, Norman ambition and vision inspired the construction 204 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:04,120 of a magnificent church just above this modest little chapel. 205 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:24,360 This is the great abbey church of St Michel. 206 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:33,600 It builds on the architecture of Imperial Rome... 207 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:37,160 ..with its round arches... 208 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:41,000 ..and monumental columns. 209 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:47,920 Historians label it Romanesque. 210 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:53,280 This was the most widespread style of architecture 211 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:55,520 since the fall of the Roman Empire. 212 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:01,600 This church was a statement in stone. 213 00:18:04,120 --> 00:18:07,000 The Normans were here to stay. 214 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:12,440 In less than 150 years, 215 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:17,480 the pagan men from the north had become master builders of Christianity. 216 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:28,040 Places like Mont St Michel showed off the Normans' growing faith, wealth and pride. 217 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:32,760 And in return for building the abbeys, the monks would pray for their souls. 218 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:35,040 Like most people in the Middle Ages, 219 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:38,840 the Normans believed that God would punish them for their sins 220 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,240 and they might spend all eternity burning in hellfire. 221 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:45,800 The monasteries were a kind of insurance policy, 222 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:50,520 religious castles where monks engaged in endless spiritual warfare 223 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:52,720 against Satan on their behalf. 224 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:08,120 But their piety and church building didn't mean the Normans had 225 00:19:08,120 --> 00:19:10,680 any intention of laying down their swords. 226 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:19,840 10th-century France offered new ways to express this urge 227 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:21,560 to command and conquer. 228 00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:28,520 They'd already moved from raiding to government, 229 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:31,880 and replaced pagan shrines with churches. 230 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:37,600 Now the Normans would exchange their longboats for horses, 231 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:40,480 reinventing themselves... 232 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:42,320 as knights. 233 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:49,160 The word "knight" summons up images of chivalric warriors, 234 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:51,080 figures in plate armour, 235 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:56,200 aristocratic heroes devoted to their ladies, Lancelot and Perceval. 236 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:59,040 But the reality was quite different. 237 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:02,680 The first knights were simply armoured men on horseback 238 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:04,920 and could be a very rough crowd. 239 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:08,240 Some of them were little better than brutal thugs. 240 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:24,440 These hard warriors were given years of training. 241 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:29,000 Cavalry warfare was a tough and highly demanding discipline. 242 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:35,760 Training was long, arduous and cost a great deal of money, 243 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:39,080 not least for the armour and weaponry, 244 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:43,160 the helmets, ironmail coats, spears and swords... 245 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,480 ..and above all, their horses. 246 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:57,560 People in the Middle Ages knew their horses well, intimately. 247 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:01,960 There's a wonderful story of a man who could tell by picking up manure and sniffing it 248 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:05,640 whether it came from wild donkeys fed on grass 249 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,960 or from war horses that had been eating oats. 250 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:10,720 It enabled him to tell, of course, 251 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:13,240 whether there were enemies in the neighbourhood. 252 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:22,640 Fighting on horseback defined a new kind of warfare. 253 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,600 The shock tactics of heavy cavalry 254 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:31,000 must have been physically and psychologically devastating. 255 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:40,920 The Normans were becoming the most ferocious cavalry in Europe. 256 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:45,240 It made them a wonderful machine for conquest. 257 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:53,400 Horseback warfare also left a powerful social legacy. 258 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:57,600 In most European languages, the word for "knight" - 259 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:01,600 chevalier, caballero, Ritter - simply means "horseman". 260 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:07,400 But it soon came to signify both honour and status. 261 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:11,560 Knights became a vital part of the new social hierarchy. 262 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:21,560 As the Normans sharpened their military skills, 263 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:24,280 they were also learning another important lesson - 264 00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:27,880 how to consolidate power. 265 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:32,440 This too involved building. 266 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:37,720 Wooden fortifications, known as motte and bailey castles, 267 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:40,320 sprang up across the region. 268 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,880 Quick and easy to build, they were used as bases for attack 269 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,960 and then for the defence of captured land. 270 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:53,160 And here, deep in the forest of Grimbosq, 271 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:57,120 are the remains of an early motte and bailey castle. 272 00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:02,040 Here, there's an enormous earth mound, now covered with trees, 273 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:05,760 made by digging the soil out from a surrounding ditch. 274 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:07,560 This is the motte. 275 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:12,920 Here, there would have been a defensive wall made of wood, a stockade. 276 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,960 And this place would have served as a lookout point 277 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,880 and an emergency refuge for the lord and his men. 278 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:22,240 Below was the bailey, a level area 279 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:26,000 also protected by a defensive wall of wood, 280 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,400 used as living quarters and to house the horses. 281 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:39,480 These fortifications were a statement of aristocratic power and domination. 282 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:43,600 Soon, like their churches, they would be rebuilt in stone, 283 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:48,920 great monuments of aggression and permanence. 284 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:57,640 This was the land into which the most famous of all the Normans was born in 1027 - 285 00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:59,920 a man who, more than any other, 286 00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:04,400 ensured that Norman power would spread far beyond Normandy. 287 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:13,520 No wonder the conception of the new duke became the stuff of legend, 288 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:18,440 with the strange dream of Herleva, the embalmer's daughter. 289 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:32,240 Herleva said that she felt something begin to stir and grow in her belly. 290 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:36,840 It came out of her body and turned into an enormous tree, 291 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:42,200 so vast that it overshadowed Normandy and the kingdom of England. 292 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:45,360 She had just conceived William the Conqueror. 293 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:56,200 First, this illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy 294 00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:58,720 was known as "William the Bastard". 295 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,880 And he was born into a world of danger. 296 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:08,800 When his father died in 1035... 297 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,360 ..William was just eight years old. 298 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:19,280 With the Duchy in the hands of a child, the Norman aristocracy 299 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:22,000 saw their chance to grab power. 300 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,360 William's rivals circled. 301 00:25:33,360 --> 00:25:36,440 One night, as the young duke was sleeping, 302 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:42,520 his steward, Osbern, sleeping in the bed beside him, had his throat cut. 303 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:49,480 In fact, every one of William's guardians was assassinated. 304 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,120 On another occasion, according to legend, 305 00:25:52,120 --> 00:25:54,760 William had to make a quick escape at night, 306 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:56,560 getting away on horseback 307 00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:58,480 in just his underclothes, 308 00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:01,200 and fording a raging river at midnight. 309 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:07,600 Normandy was in turmoil. 310 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:12,880 The chronicler William of Jumieges described the chaos. 311 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:18,000 "Plots were hatched, and rebellions, 312 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,600 "and all the duchy was ablaze with fire." 313 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:26,200 The violence was sickening. 314 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:29,440 Rivals were abducted and mutilated. 315 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:32,320 One Norman lord who went to a wedding feast 316 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:36,400 came away without ears, eyes or genitals. 317 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:41,960 Amazingly, he survived and ended his days as a monk. 318 00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:58,040 The young duke hung on for 12 years. 319 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:04,560 Then, in 1047, when he was 20 years old, he faced a full-blown revolt. 320 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,480 It was launched by his cousin, Guy, 321 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:12,440 who had mustered the backing of "the greater part of Normandy". 322 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:18,040 William confronted the rebels here at Val-es-Dunes. 323 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,160 He'd called on the aid of the French king, Henry I. 324 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:23,240 But William didn't need much help. 325 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:37,320 He charged into the carnage, terrifying his enemies with brute force. 326 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:49,520 When they fled the battlefield, it's said that he pursued them relentlessly for miles. 327 00:27:54,360 --> 00:27:56,080 Many were hacked down. 328 00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:59,000 Others drowned as they tried to cross the River Orne. 329 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:09,040 The battle of Val-es-Dunes was the making of the young duke. 330 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:12,640 Nothing could stop him now. 331 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:28,680 William set about restoring order to the Norman state. 332 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:31,520 He built a new capital here at Caen, 333 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:35,800 complete with the two indispensable expressions of Norman power - 334 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:37,440 a castle... 335 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:44,200 ..and two abbeys, the Abbaye aux Hommes, for men, 336 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:46,960 and the Abbaye aux Dames, for women. 337 00:28:56,200 --> 00:29:00,080 Next, to secure his dynasty, came marriage. 338 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:07,280 William's bride was a distant cousin called Mathilda. 339 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,920 She was the daughter of Normandy's most powerful neighbour, 340 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:12,840 the Count of Flanders. 341 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:18,320 Even in marriage, the young duke never forgot politics. 342 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,320 But William and Mathilda appear to have been happy together, 343 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,360 despite their rather ill-assorted appearance. 344 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:28,600 He was almost six foot, 345 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:32,800 she apparently only four foot three inches. 346 00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:38,560 At first, the Pope prohibited their wedding on the grounds that they were too closely related. 347 00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:44,720 The Church had very strict rules at this time about marriage between cousins, however distant. 348 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:49,160 But they went ahead and got married anyway, and then did penance 349 00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:51,400 by building their two abbeys. 350 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:55,600 This is Mathilda's, the great Abbaye aux Dames. 351 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:21,120 The abbeys of Caen are a high point of Norman church building. 352 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:27,800 This was a golden age for Normandy, 353 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:33,160 and William was asserting his Christian piety and the magnificence of his power. 354 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:47,280 The abbeys share the same imperial pretensions as the church of Mont St Michel, 355 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:49,560 but they are more sophisticated... 356 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:56,200 ..their arches more graceful, 357 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:58,720 their columns more refined. 358 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,040 The duke was a fervent Christian. 359 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:23,800 But he'd been hardened by his enemies and the trials of his childhood. 360 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,280 William could be devastatingly savage. 361 00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:33,080 One story that concerns his siege of the city of Alencon 362 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:37,680 tells how the defenders hung out animal skins over the battlements 363 00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:41,760 to mock the fact that his mother was an embalmer's daughter. 364 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:43,560 When he captured the place, 365 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:47,320 William ordered the offenders' hands and feet to be cut off, 366 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:53,040 and then their eyes to be gouged out to satisfy his desire for revenge. 367 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:03,240 William ruthlessly restored 368 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:06,120 Normandy's power, prestige and wealth. 369 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:14,880 One Norman historian remarked that he was "ruler of his whole land, 370 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:18,120 "something which is scarcely found anywhere else". 371 00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:25,080 By the time he was in his 30s, 372 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:29,600 William was secure enough to consider expanding his territories. 373 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:32,280 In 1063, he invaded the county of Maine, 374 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:34,800 which lies to the south of Normandy, 375 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:38,120 crushed the fierce resistance he encountered, 376 00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:40,280 and added it to his dominions. 377 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:44,120 But he already had in mind a yet greater prize, 378 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:49,640 a large and powerful kingdom that lay not far away across the sea. 379 00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:00,480 What happened next would catapult the Normans 380 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:04,680 and their ambitious leader to the very centre of European power. 381 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:11,720 11th-century England offered much more than just territory. 382 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:17,840 King Edward the Confessor ruled over one of the wealthiest 383 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:20,560 and best-governed states in Europe - 384 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,520 efficient and highly centralised. 385 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:30,520 Only the king could mint money. 386 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:39,040 And the English silver penny was famous for its purity and stability. 387 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:44,440 Most importantly, money flowed into the royal treasury, 388 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:47,600 thanks to England's sophisticated tax system. 389 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:53,160 But England was confronting the most dangerous prospect 390 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:58,560 that a medieval kingdom could face - the death of a king without an heir. 391 00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:02,640 King Edward the Confessor was later to be made a saint, partly because, 392 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:06,640 it is said, he lived and died a virgin, even though married. 393 00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:12,760 But from the point of view of dynastic politics, the death of a childless ruler was a disaster. 394 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,200 And disaster was looming. 395 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:22,480 King Edward was dying, 396 00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:27,040 and the Normans had become so entwined in the dynastic networks of Europe 397 00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:31,440 that William could make a plausible claim to the English throne. 398 00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:36,960 He was Edward's cousin and had known him since childhood. 399 00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:42,640 When Edward succeeded to the English throne in 1042, 400 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:46,760 he'd been living in exile in Normandy for almost 25 years. 401 00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:50,960 He was a stranger in his own land, who knew his cousin, Duke William, 402 00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:53,720 far better than he knew the English aristocracy. 403 00:34:53,720 --> 00:34:58,080 William even claimed that Edward promised him the English throne 404 00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:00,320 after Edward's death. 405 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:04,840 And that was a prize William was determined to get his hands on. 406 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:11,840 In France, William was a duke, but in England he could be a king. 407 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,120 And kingship in the Middle Ages 408 00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:17,640 was an institution blessed and approved by God. 409 00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:21,480 But William had a rival. 410 00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:26,960 Earl Harold Godwinson had no hereditary claim to the throne. 411 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:33,000 But he was the richest man in England, a successful general and a skilful politician. 412 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:37,520 He claimed that Edward had promised HIM the throne too. 413 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:47,760 The Norman duke's claim to the English throne was strengthened 414 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:52,920 when Harold made a mysterious journey to northern France in 1064. 415 00:35:55,880 --> 00:36:01,240 The story is told at the beginning of the greatest surviving record of the Norman conquest. 416 00:36:15,240 --> 00:36:17,240 This is the Bayeux Tapestry, 417 00:36:17,240 --> 00:36:21,560 one of the most amazing objects surviving from the Middle Ages. 418 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:32,120 It's over 900 years old, 419 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:36,720 and it sheds a unique light on that period. 420 00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:41,320 The 11th century is a distant and in some ways a dark period, 421 00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:45,720 but then suddenly, like a searchlight cutting though that darkness, 422 00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:49,880 we have this - 70 metres of detailed visual imagery. 423 00:36:54,280 --> 00:36:56,280 It's a masterpiece of needlework. 424 00:36:56,280 --> 00:37:00,720 The colours are clear and fresh, 425 00:37:00,720 --> 00:37:02,600 and when we look in detail, 426 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:05,800 we can see how carefully observed every scene is. 427 00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:09,400 You can tell from this who are the English 428 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:11,680 and who are the Normans by their hairstyle. 429 00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:17,040 The English invariably have shoulder-length hair and moustaches. 430 00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:19,960 The Normans are clean-shaven, 431 00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:22,600 with a savagely high razor cut at the back. 432 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:31,880 Modern historians can enrich their story with photographs or film. 433 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:33,920 Medievalists can't do that. 434 00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:37,920 But once in a while, they have a wonderful gift of something like this, 435 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:41,000 something like a medieval film strip 436 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:45,800 which tells us about a remarkable event in European history. 437 00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:55,800 It's believed that the tapestry 438 00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:59,080 was commissioned by William's half-brother, Bishop Odo. 439 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:05,760 Its size and complexity tell us the Normans regarded this expedition 440 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:08,480 as more than just another bout of war-making. 441 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:13,880 It begins with Harold's journey to France. 442 00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:16,640 We don't know why he went. 443 00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:22,400 But we do know that the voyage would lead to disaster for Harold... 444 00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:24,000 ..and for England. 445 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:28,920 Here we see Harold and his men getting on board ship. 446 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:31,560 They're sailing into the Channel, across to France. 447 00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:34,920 The wind blows them, unfortunately, to enemy soil, 448 00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:38,040 the land of Guy of Ponthieu, who imprisons them. 449 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:41,000 Duke William of Normandy gets to hear about this, 450 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:44,840 and he demands that Harold should be sent to him. 451 00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:48,280 And when he's there, he treats Harold as an honoured guest. 452 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:52,200 He even invites him to go on campaign with him, 453 00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:56,560 so Harold is actually fighting in William's army. 454 00:38:56,560 --> 00:39:00,760 We see the army proceeding towards Brittany. 455 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:04,280 They pass Mont St Michel on their way. 456 00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:09,240 Harold distinguishes himself in this warfare. He's a kind of hero. 457 00:39:09,240 --> 00:39:13,240 And in return, William actually knights him. 458 00:39:13,240 --> 00:39:15,440 He gives him arms. 459 00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:20,240 A sign of great honour, but also perhaps of subordination. 460 00:39:20,240 --> 00:39:23,080 And then, on their return to Normandy, 461 00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:26,520 we have one of the most important scenes in the whole tapestry. 462 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:31,200 It shows Harold taking an oath, his hands on reliquaries - 463 00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:34,920 that is, containers with saints' bones inside - 464 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:37,080 swearing to Duke William. 465 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:39,280 It doesn't say what the oath is. 466 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,240 William's story is that the oath was, 467 00:39:42,240 --> 00:39:47,280 "I, Harold, will support your claim to be the next king of England." 468 00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:50,440 We'll never know exactly what happened. 469 00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:53,480 Some people think it's unlikely that Harold, 470 00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:55,840 the most powerful man in England, 471 00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:59,880 with an eye to becoming king himself, would take this oath. 472 00:39:59,880 --> 00:40:03,040 But what is clear is what William thought had happened. 473 00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:06,000 Harold had sworn before God 474 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:09,720 to recognise him as the next king of England. 475 00:40:09,720 --> 00:40:15,360 And it was on that that he based his invasion of England in 1066. 476 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:28,160 The death of Edward the Confessor on 5th January 1066 477 00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:31,080 was like the crack of a starting gun. 478 00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:38,960 First in the field was Harold. 479 00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:44,960 He wasted no time, and had himself crowned king in Westminster Abbey 480 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:47,360 on the same day as Edward's funeral. 481 00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:53,760 In Normandy, William was out hunting when he heard the news. 482 00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:59,560 According to one historian, "he became as a man outraged". 483 00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:09,600 Another chronicler denounced Harold as a "pseudo king". 484 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:15,600 Worse, he had perjured himself, committing a grave sin against God. 485 00:41:18,440 --> 00:41:22,400 Nature itself appeared to be disturbed by this wickedness. 486 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:28,680 A few months after Harold's coronation, 487 00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:31,120 Halley's comet appeared in the sky. 488 00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:39,840 For people in the Middle Ages, the appearance of a comet was a sign from heaven. 489 00:41:39,840 --> 00:41:45,440 It meant some great change was about to occur, perhaps the downfall of a regime. 490 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:50,040 A comet was even called "the terror of kings". 491 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:53,680 And Harold had reason to be afraid. 492 00:41:55,600 --> 00:42:00,800 Nothing could now stop a Norman bid to remove the usurper. 493 00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:06,000 Ever the politician, William first launched a diplomatic offensive. 494 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:10,760 He asked his barons and the rulers of other European kingdoms 495 00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:13,240 to support his claim to the English throne. 496 00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:18,160 William sought support everywhere. 497 00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:22,920 He even sent envoys to Rome to get the backing of Pope Alexander. 498 00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:28,160 They came back with a papal banner to carry into battle, 499 00:42:28,160 --> 00:42:31,040 one of the first ever issued. 500 00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:34,960 In the words of the Norman chronicler William of Poitiers, 501 00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:39,400 "He could now attack his enemies with greater boldness and security." 502 00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:42,280 William had God on his side. 503 00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:54,160 The way was clear for a full-scale military invasion. 504 00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:00,080 William of Jumieges recounts the felling of trees 505 00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:03,560 to construct a fleet of 3,000 ships... 506 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:11,600 ..enough to carry a quarter of a million men to England... 507 00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:17,320 ..with all their horses, weapons and armour. 508 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:26,720 William of Jumieges was exaggerating. 509 00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:30,120 He was, after all, the official historian of the Normans. 510 00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:36,440 We now think that maybe 700 ships carrying 7,000 men would be nearer the mark. 511 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:41,920 Whatever the numbers, this was a vast, efficient, well-organised operation. 512 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:47,040 William recruited troops from all over northern France, well beyond his own duchy, 513 00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:50,080 promising them the rewards of the adventure - 514 00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:52,920 wealth and power in England. 515 00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:07,320 King Harold had deployed his troops on the south coast of England 516 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:09,840 and was waiting for William to attack. 517 00:44:13,720 --> 00:44:16,480 But William didn't come. 518 00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:21,560 His ships were grounded in France by unfavourable winds. 519 00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:25,320 The weeks went by, 520 00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:28,600 and there was still no sign of the great Norman fleet. 521 00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:40,760 As summer turned into autumn, Harold thought that William would not now risk the crossing. 522 00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:43,960 The winds were too strong, the sea too rough. 523 00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:47,480 Besides, Harold's own provisions were now running low. 524 00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:49,080 He sent his men home. 525 00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:52,440 England was now open to attack. 526 00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:55,680 Just a few days later, the attack came. 527 00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:58,200 But not from William. 528 00:45:02,160 --> 00:45:06,040 The invasion came from the north, from Scandinavia. 529 00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:24,120 The king of Norway, Harald Hardrada, "Hard Ruler", was a ruthless warrior, 530 00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:27,520 and he too had his claims on the English throne. 531 00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:32,640 Hardrada landed in the north of England with a vast army of Viking warriors. 532 00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:36,960 They captured York and defeated the local earls. 533 00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:45,240 Harold marched north and took the Norwegian army by surprise on 25th September 1066. 534 00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:57,600 At the Battle of Stamford Bridge, the invaders were completely defeated. 535 00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:09,960 It's said that of the 300 Norwegian ships that had originally landed, 536 00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:13,680 only 20 were needed to carry the survivors home. 537 00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:17,000 Harald Hardrada was amongst the many dead. 538 00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:20,200 The Viking age was coming to an end. 539 00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:34,960 Harold Godwinson was triumphant. 540 00:46:38,040 --> 00:46:40,280 But on the other side of the Channel, 541 00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:42,520 William was still waiting. 542 00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:46,840 Waiting didn't come easily to William. 543 00:46:46,840 --> 00:46:50,480 You can imagine him staring at the weather vane of the local church, 544 00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:53,520 praying for the wind to change. 545 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:56,080 Eventually, he turned to the supernatural. 546 00:46:56,080 --> 00:47:00,760 He had the body of the local saint, Saint Valery, taken from its tomb 547 00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:03,840 and carried in solemn procession through the town. 548 00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:07,560 And William's prayers were finally answered. 549 00:47:11,080 --> 00:47:14,400 On the night of 28th September 1066, 550 00:47:14,400 --> 00:47:19,560 the winds changed, and William's fleet sailed the 70 miles to Sussex. 551 00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:27,280 A forest of masts, lit up with burning torches, 552 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:29,560 slipped across the Channel. 553 00:47:35,360 --> 00:47:38,960 The ships looked startlingly like the Viking warships 554 00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:43,640 that had brought William's ancestors to Normandy 150 years earlier. 555 00:47:45,920 --> 00:47:49,560 But this was no band of pagan pirates on a raid. 556 00:47:50,840 --> 00:47:54,720 It was a well-trained, disciplined army of knights... 557 00:47:54,720 --> 00:47:56,960 coming to take a kingdom. 558 00:47:59,320 --> 00:48:04,400 Legend has it that as William jumped ashore, he stumbled and fell. 559 00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:07,840 At first, the Normans regarded this as a bad omen. 560 00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:11,720 But William immediately leapt up and cried out, 561 00:48:11,720 --> 00:48:15,520 "See, I have grasped the land with both hands!" 562 00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:28,600 The Normans began as they meant to continue. 563 00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:32,520 They built two wooden motte and bailey castles within a fortnight, 564 00:48:32,520 --> 00:48:36,760 one at Hastings and one here, at Pevensey. 565 00:48:38,720 --> 00:48:41,480 They laid waste to the surrounding countryside, 566 00:48:41,480 --> 00:48:45,760 wiping out the locals, burning their houses 567 00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:48,320 and killing their animals. 568 00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:54,240 Exhausted from doing battle in the north, 569 00:48:54,240 --> 00:48:59,240 Harold marched the 200 miles from York to London in just five days. 570 00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:08,040 The story goes that Harold's mother begged him to postpone his showdown with William. 571 00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:10,520 After all, Harold had the upper hand. 572 00:49:10,520 --> 00:49:15,120 He could trap William in Hastings, starve him out and raise new forces. 573 00:49:15,120 --> 00:49:19,960 But Harold refused to listen and charged headlong into his next battle. 574 00:49:19,960 --> 00:49:22,520 William was just as eager. 575 00:49:22,520 --> 00:49:25,960 It's said that he was in such a rush to confront Harold 576 00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:28,640 that he put his mailcoat on back to front. 577 00:49:28,640 --> 00:49:30,520 Another bad omen? 578 00:49:30,520 --> 00:49:32,040 Not for William. 579 00:49:32,040 --> 00:49:33,960 "I trust in God. 580 00:49:33,960 --> 00:49:38,680 "Today you will see a duke changed into a king." 581 00:50:00,200 --> 00:50:05,800 On this hillside, on Saturday, 14th October 1066, 582 00:50:05,800 --> 00:50:09,120 a single battle between a few thousand men 583 00:50:09,120 --> 00:50:14,920 permanently changed the course of history in England and beyond. 584 00:50:17,240 --> 00:50:22,400 It was said to have taken place "at the grey apple tree". 585 00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:26,240 Nowadays, the site is known simply as Battle. 586 00:50:29,560 --> 00:50:32,240 The English occupied this ridge, 587 00:50:32,240 --> 00:50:36,960 standing shoulder to shoulder, many armed with huge axes. 588 00:50:36,960 --> 00:50:42,200 To protect themselves, they overlapped their shields, forming the shield wall. 589 00:50:48,080 --> 00:50:50,760 This was the traditional way of fighting, 590 00:50:50,760 --> 00:50:53,000 tried and tested over the centuries. 591 00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:57,800 Confronting them was something startlingly new in English warfare. 592 00:50:57,800 --> 00:51:01,320 The Normans were drawn up in three lines - 593 00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:06,280 first the archers, then the infantry, then the mounted knights. 594 00:51:18,240 --> 00:51:23,000 It's said that William hung around his neck the very saints' relics 595 00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:25,640 on which Harold had sworn his oath. 596 00:51:25,640 --> 00:51:28,520 With the papal banner fluttering in the breeze, 597 00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:33,600 he must have been confident that God and the saints were backing HIM. 598 00:51:45,680 --> 00:51:51,080 Harold's army was battle weary and exhausted from the long march south. 599 00:51:58,960 --> 00:52:02,080 Fighting began about nine o'clock in the morning. 600 00:52:20,800 --> 00:52:23,000 The Normans charged uphill. 601 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:26,560 The war cries on both sides were soon drowned out 602 00:52:26,560 --> 00:52:28,280 by the clash of arms 603 00:52:28,280 --> 00:52:32,000 and the shrieks and groans of the wounded and the dying. 604 00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:43,480 Harold's men were packed so densely behind their solid shield wall 605 00:52:43,480 --> 00:52:45,800 that the dead were unable to fall. 606 00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:51,400 The Normans couldn't break the English line. 607 00:52:55,600 --> 00:52:59,920 A rumour spread amongst the Normans that William had been killed. 608 00:52:59,920 --> 00:53:03,720 The men on the left flank panicked and began to rush down the hill. 609 00:53:08,120 --> 00:53:11,520 The English above broke ranks and followed them. 610 00:53:15,240 --> 00:53:17,600 But William had not been killed. 611 00:53:17,600 --> 00:53:21,520 He pushed back his helmet to reveal his face and called out, 612 00:53:21,520 --> 00:53:24,920 "I live, and with God's help will conquer yet!" 613 00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:27,120 The Normans immediately rallied, 614 00:53:27,120 --> 00:53:30,800 turned on the English who were pursuing them, and cut them down. 615 00:53:39,040 --> 00:53:40,800 The English line was broken... 616 00:53:42,080 --> 00:53:44,160 ..and the Normans charged in. 617 00:53:55,120 --> 00:53:56,960 The Bayeux Tapestry shows 618 00:53:56,960 --> 00:54:00,240 all the confusion and desperation of the battle. 619 00:54:03,720 --> 00:54:06,240 In the 11th century, it was customary 620 00:54:06,240 --> 00:54:11,120 for the bishops to join in, though they were forbidden to shed blood. 621 00:54:11,120 --> 00:54:15,320 Here's Bishop Odo, William's half-brother. 622 00:54:15,320 --> 00:54:17,280 He's carrying a huge club. 623 00:54:18,800 --> 00:54:23,840 That way, he could break a few arms or heads without any bloodshed. 624 00:54:28,240 --> 00:54:32,400 Bodies fall in a heap of twisted and broken limbs. 625 00:54:36,200 --> 00:54:39,800 The hillside must have been saturated with blood. 626 00:54:49,720 --> 00:54:53,560 Then came the decisive moment - the death of King Harold. 627 00:54:53,560 --> 00:54:55,560 Two early accounts of the battle 628 00:54:55,560 --> 00:54:57,320 say that an arrow struck the king 629 00:54:57,320 --> 00:54:58,760 in the eye. 630 00:55:05,040 --> 00:55:07,080 The king was dead. 631 00:55:10,440 --> 00:55:13,360 And a world was coming to an end. 632 00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:23,240 Harold's body was so mutilated that it couldn't even be found. 633 00:55:23,240 --> 00:55:27,200 It was recognised eventually, legend has it, by his mistress, 634 00:55:27,200 --> 00:55:29,640 Edith "the Swan-Necked", 635 00:55:29,640 --> 00:55:35,280 who identified it by "certain secret marks" known only to her. 636 00:55:35,280 --> 00:55:40,160 And along with Harold, Anglo-Saxon England died on this battlefield. 637 00:55:40,160 --> 00:55:43,200 One of William's chaplains describes the scene. 638 00:55:43,200 --> 00:55:47,120 "The flower of English youth, the flower of English nobility 639 00:55:47,120 --> 00:55:51,520 "covered the ground far and wide, filthy with their own blood." 640 00:55:56,680 --> 00:56:00,720 It's said that William refused to bury the English dead. 641 00:56:02,280 --> 00:56:04,600 They lay rotting for days. 642 00:56:07,560 --> 00:56:11,680 He would later relent and build an abbey here as penance 643 00:56:11,680 --> 00:56:13,320 for the carnage of the battle. 644 00:56:15,000 --> 00:56:19,840 Its altar is said to have been built on the spot where Harold fell. 645 00:56:25,720 --> 00:56:30,560 But in the immediate aftermath of the battle, William felt no remorse. 646 00:56:30,560 --> 00:56:35,440 A week after his victory, this bastard descendant of Viking pirates 647 00:56:35,440 --> 00:56:37,680 set off on the march to London. 648 00:56:37,680 --> 00:56:42,760 He was now William the Conqueror, soon to be William, King of England. 649 00:56:42,760 --> 00:56:45,880 The future belonged to the Normans. 650 00:57:01,840 --> 00:57:04,640 In the next episode, 651 00:57:04,640 --> 00:57:06,600 Anglo-Saxon rebellion... 652 00:57:08,520 --> 00:57:12,520 ..the Normans transform English politics and culture... 653 00:57:13,960 --> 00:57:17,400 ..and a new order in Scotland... 654 00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:19,960 ..Wales... 655 00:57:19,960 --> 00:57:21,760 ..and Ireland.