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Falaise Castle, in Northern France.

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The year is 1027.

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A young girl is tormented
by a strange dream.

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An enormous tree bursts out
from deep within her belly.

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Its branches spread and grow
until it towers over
the whole of Normandy...

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..and then across the water
to overshadow England too.

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The girl's name was Herleva,

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the daughter of the town's embalmer.

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And something WAS
growing inside her.

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She'd just been seduced
by the younger brother
of the Duke of Normandy.

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Herleva's dream is only a legend,

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written down 100 years
after the event.

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But it contains
one historical certainty -

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she HAD conceived a son that night.

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He would be known
as William the Bastard.

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Later, he would earn another title

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by which he would go down
in history - William the Conqueror,

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Duke of Normandy
and King of England.

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William's victory
at the Battle of Hastings

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has given us England's
most famous date - 1066.

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But this wasn't just a battle.

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It was a momentous turning point
in European history.

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In the years that followed,
the Normans transformed England

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and then the rest of Britain
and Ireland.

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They helped forge
the English language.

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They built monumental cathedrals
and castles,

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including the Tower of London.

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The Conqueror's legacy would leave
a permanent mark on British history.

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But the Normans didn't stop there.

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They also left a deep imprint
across Europe,

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from northern France...

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..to southern Italy...

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..and on to the Middle East
and Jerusalem.

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The Normans were
an ambitious band of warriors,

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hungry for land, wealth and power,

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but also for spiritual inspiration
and knowledge.

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They would become great patrons
of European art...

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..and architecture.

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Everywhere they went,
the Normans transformed
the language, culture and politics

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in ways that can still be seen
right across Europe to this day.

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Herleva's dream
is a great Norman myth,

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designed obviously to glamorise
William and add to his mystique.

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But the story contains
a simple truth -

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the Norman hour was approaching.

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1066 wasn't England's
first encounter with the Normans.

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In the year 793, their ancestors
sailed across the North Sea

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from Scandinavia.

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Monks on the tiny English island
of Lindisfarne
were their first victims.

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The 8th-century cleric Alcuin
of York described the carnage.

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"Never before has such terror
appeared in Britain.

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"Behold the church of St Cuthbert,

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"splattered with the blood of God's
priests, robbed of its ornaments."

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The Vikings had struck
for the first time.

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For 300 years, the Vikings burned
and murdered their way
across the Continent,

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sailing thousands of miles
in search of wealth and power.

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With their formidable longboats
and pagan gods,

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the Vikings terrorised
northern and eastern England,

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sailed to the Mediterranean,

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and across the Atlantic
as far as North America.

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But the place where the Viking story
took its most remarkable turn

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was just across the Channel
from England in northern France.

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One of the most successful
Viking settlements of them all
took root here.

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It even took its name from them -
"Land of the Northmen", Normandy.

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The Vikings began raiding
the Seine Valley in northern France
in the middle of the 9th century.

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According to the 11th-century
French historian, Dudo of St Quentin,

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they liked what they saw.

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"This land is rich and fertile
with crops of all kinds,

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"criss-crossed with rivers
full of fish,

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"and rich in game for the hunting.

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"Let us subject it to our own power
and claim it as our own."

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Norman history starts here.

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The Vikings sailed up
the River Seine,

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stripping and destroying
the wealthy, but very poorly
defended, monasteries,

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like this one at Jumieges.

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These walls are the only part
of the church remaining

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from the ones
that the Vikings destroyed.

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And since the monks were the ones
who wrote the histories,

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it's hardly surprising
that they gave the Vikings
a very bad press indeed.

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But the Vikings' reputation
was about to change.

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France in the 10th century was in
a state of political fragmentation.

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The great empire of Charlemagne
that covered most of modern France,
Germany and Italy

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had disintegrated
in the 9th century.

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France was now a series
of warring principalities.

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The king had little authority.

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Northern France was there
for the taking.

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But this band of Vikings
soon realised

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that holding on to territory
and power required new tactics.

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The Vikings were led by
a Norwegian giant called Rollo.

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He was said to be so large
that no horse could carry him,

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so he went everywhere on foot
and earned the nickname "Rollo
the Ganger", "Rollo the Walker".

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He was skilled with the usual
Viking tools of violence and chaos.

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But he also cultivated
the local nobility

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and even married the daughter
of a French noble.

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This was to be the model
of Norman power -

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conquest through terror and force,

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but then settlement, intermarriage,
adaptation to local society.

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By the start of the 10th century,
Rollo's Vikings were unstoppable.

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Charles, King of France,
had no choice but to do a deal.

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In 911, tradition has it
that Rollo and the king met here

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by the river at St-Clair-sur-Epte.

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Rollo realised that the route
to power called for diplomacy.

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So he swore loyalty to the king,

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agreed to protect him
from other Viking raiders,

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and promised to convert
to Christianity.

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In return,
the king offered Rollo all the land
between the river and the sea.

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The province of Normandy was born.

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To seal the deal, the king insisted
on the ritual kissing of the foot.

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Rollo refused - "I shall never
bow my knees to the knees of any
other man, or kiss anyone's foot."

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So he delegated the task
to one of his followers,

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who bent down, grabbed the king's
foot, brought it to his mouth, and
sent the king toppling backwards.

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It was an early indication
that the Normans had no intention
of being ruled by anyone.

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Rollo didn't simply turn Normandy
into another Viking war camp.

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He took the city of Rouen
as his capital,

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and the Normans became
part of a great act of
political transformation.

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In the course of just
two generations,
they doubled their territory

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and turned Normandy
into one of the most powerful
principalities in France.

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The Viking minority
ruled over their French subjects.

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But they took Rollo's lead
and learned from them too.

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The Normans became French.

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They married local women.

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They became wine drinkers.

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And within a generation or two,
they'd abandoned their
Scandinavian language.

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These marauding warriors realised

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that to make wealth and power
permanent, they had to
learn how to run a state.

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And their new neighbours
showed them how.

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The Normans willingly adopted
the French social structure

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and administrative
and legal systems.

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They mastered them
with their customary
ferocious energy and ambition.

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Rouen's Museum of Antiquities
contains a powerful symbol
of this process.

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This is a coin that dates from
the middle of the 10th century,

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from the reign of Rollo's son,
William Longsword.

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You can make out the letters

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W-I-L-E-L-M-U-S, Wilelmus,

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the Latin for William.

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This is the first time
a French territorial prince

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had put his own name on a coin, with
no reference to the King of France.

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So this tiny object
is a symbol of Norman power

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and the Normans' amazing audacity.

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Wealth for the Normans was
no longer simply booty to be looted.

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They now presided over
a settled economy.

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They were fast learners,

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turning their newly conquered land
into a fully functioning
medieval state...

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..based on land ownership, social
hierarchy and efficient government.

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This was a culture rooted in order
and permanence,

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not anarchy and terror.

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It would make the Normans
even more formidable
than their Viking ancestors.

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But the Normans didn't completely
lose touch with their Viking past.

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Any attempts to revolt against the
new order were brutally repressed.

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In the last decade
of the 10th century,

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the Norman peasantry attempted
to oppose the aristocrats.

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The Norman historian, William of
Jumieges, describes their reaction.

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"The duke sent a large number
of knights

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"who seized the peasants' leaders
and many others,

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"cut off their hands and feet
and left them helpless."

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This peasants' revolt
was quickly abandoned.

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A band of Viking pirates had become
a powerful political force.

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But it didn't stop there.

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Their reinvention encompassed
heaven as well as Earth.

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The Normans now had a new God
as well as a new politics.

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And as with everything they did,
they embraced their new religion
with fierce enthusiasm.

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Rollo kept his promise to the king
and converted to Christianity.

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Some people doubted his commitment.

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One French historian even claimed
that on his deathbed,

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Rollo had 100 men decapitated
to appease the pagan gods.

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But Rollo and his successors turned
to Christianity with the same energy
that they had applied to conquest.

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His ancestors had burned churches.

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They built them.

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And this monastery at Mont St Michel
was one of their favourite projects.

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The monastery of Mont St Michel
was founded

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on an island off the coast
of Normandy in the 8th century.

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It soon became one of the major
Christian pilgrimage sites.

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It's dedicated to the Archangel
St Michael, the warrior saint.

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So it's little surprise that
the Normans came to worship here.

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By the middle of the 10th century,
they were Mont St Michel's
most generous sponsors.

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They built the oldest part
of the monastery.

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It lies behind this door.

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This is the chapel
of Notre Dame Sous Terre -
Our Lady Beneath the Ground.

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It was built in the 10th century
during the reign of Duke Richard I,
Rollo's grandson,

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and is the earliest surviving
example of Norman architecture.

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It's a simple chapel, typical
of the French style of the era,

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with its plain arches, rectangular
supports and small windows.

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But within 50 years, Norman ambition
and vision inspired the construction

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of a magnificent church just above
this modest little chapel.

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This is the great abbey church
of St Michel.

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It builds on the architecture
of Imperial Rome...

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..with its round arches...

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..and monumental columns.

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Historians label it Romanesque.

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This was the most widespread
style of architecture

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since the fall of the Roman Empire.

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This church was
a statement in stone.

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The Normans were here to stay.

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00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:11,640
In less than 150 years,

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the pagan men from the north
had become master builders
of Christianity.

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Places like Mont St Michel
showed off the Normans'
growing faith, wealth and pride.

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And in return for building
the abbeys, the monks would
pray for their souls.

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Like most people in the Middle Ages,
the Normans believed that God would
punish them for their sins

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and they might spend all eternity
burning in hellfire.

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The monasteries were
a kind of insurance policy,

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religious castles where monks
engaged in endless spiritual warfare
against Satan on their behalf.

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But their piety and church building
didn't mean the Normans had

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any intention of laying down
their swords.

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10th-century France offered
new ways to express this urge
to command and conquer.

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They'd already moved
from raiding to government,

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and replaced pagan shrines
with churches.

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Now the Normans would exchange
their longboats for horses,

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00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:39,760
reinventing themselves...

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as knights.

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00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:48,440
The word "knight" summons up
images of chivalric warriors,

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figures in plate armour,

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00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:55,480
aristocratic heroes devoted to
their ladies, Lancelot and Perceval.

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00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:58,200
But the reality was quite different.

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00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:01,960
The first knights were simply
armoured men on horseback,

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00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:04,080
and could be a very rough crowd.

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00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,520
Some of them were little better
than brutal thugs.

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00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:23,600
These hard warriors were given
years of training.

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00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:28,240
Cavalry warfare was a tough
and highly demanding discipline.

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00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:34,960
Training was long, arduous
and cost a great deal of money,

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00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:38,280
not least for the armour
and weaponry,

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00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:42,400
the helmets, ironmail coats,
spears and swords...

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..and above all, their horses.

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00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,760
People in the Middle Ages knew
their horses well, intimately.

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00:20:56,760 --> 00:21:01,480
There's a wonderful story of a man
who could tell by picking up manure
and sniffing it,

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whether it came from wild donkeys
fed on grass

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00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:08,200
or from war horses
that had been eating oats.

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00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:12,520
It enabled him to tell, of course,
whether there were enemies
in the neighbourhood.

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00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:21,920
Fighting on horseback defined
a new kind of warfare.

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00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:30,240
The shock tactics of heavy cavalry
must have been physically
and psychologically devastating.

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00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:40,120
The Normans were becoming the most
ferocious cavalry in Europe.

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00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:44,520
It made them
a wonderful machine for conquest.

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00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:52,560
Horseback warfare also left
a powerful social legacy.

232
00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:56,800
In most European languages,
the word for "knight" -

233
00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:00,880
chevalier, caballero, Ritter -
simply means "horseman".

234
00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:06,600
But it soon came to signify
both honour and status.

235
00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:10,840
Knights became a vital part
of the new social hierarchy.

236
00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:23,480
As the Normans sharpened their
military skills, they were also
learning another important lesson -

237
00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:27,120
how to consolidate power.

238
00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:31,720
This too involved building.

239
00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:39,480
Wooden fortifications,
known as "motte and bailey" castles,
sprang up across the region.

240
00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:43,080
Quick and easy to build,
they were used as bases for attack

241
00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:46,200
and then for the defence
of captured land.

242
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,400
And here,
deep in the forest of Grimbosq,

243
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:56,320
are the remains of an early
motte and bailey castle.

244
00:22:56,320 --> 00:23:01,240
Here, there's an enormous earth
mound, now covered with trees,

245
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:05,040
made by digging the soil out
from a surrounding ditch.

246
00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:06,760
This is the motte.

247
00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:12,160
Here,
there would have been a defensive
wall made of wood, a stockade.

248
00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,200
And this place would have served
as a lookout point

249
00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:18,120
and an emergency refuge
for the lord and his men.

250
00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:20,960
Below was the bailey, a level area

251
00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:25,200
also protected by
a defensive wall of wood,

252
00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:28,640
used as living quarters
and to house the horses.

253
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:38,680
These fortifications were
a statement of aristocratic power
and domination.

254
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:42,800
Soon, like their churches,
they would be rebuilt in stone,

255
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:48,160
great monuments of aggression
and permanence.

256
00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:56,920
This was the land into which
the most famous of all the Normans
was born in 1027 -

257
00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:03,680
a man who, more than any other,
ensured that Norman power
would spread far beyond Normandy.

258
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:12,720
No wonder the conception of the new
duke became the stuff of legend,

259
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:17,680
with the strange dream of Herleva,
the embalmer's daughter.

260
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:31,440
Herleva said that she felt something
begin to stir and grow in her belly.

261
00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:36,000
It came out of her body
and turned into an enormous tree,

262
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:41,400
so vast that it overshadowed
Normandy and the Kingdom of England.

263
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,600
She had just conceived
William the Conqueror.

264
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:57,960
First, this illegitimate son
of the Duke of Normandy
was known as "William the Bastard".

265
00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,160
And he was born
into a world of danger.

266
00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,040
When his father died in 1035...

267
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:11,640
..William was just eight years old.

268
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:21,280
With the Duchy in the hands of
a child, the Norman aristocracy
saw their chance to grab power.

269
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,560
William's rivals circled.

270
00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:35,680
One night,
as the young duke was sleeping,

271
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:41,800
his steward, Osbern, sleeping in the
bed beside him, had his throat cut.

272
00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:48,680
In fact, every one of William's
guardians was assassinated.

273
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:54,000
On another occasion,
according to legend, William had to
make a quick escape at night,

274
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,680
getting away on horseback
in just his underclothes,

275
00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:00,480
and fording
a raging river at midnight.

276
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:06,800
Normandy was in turmoil.

277
00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:12,120
The chronicler William of Jumieges
described the chaos.

278
00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:20,840
"Plots were hatched, and rebellions,
and all the duchy was
ablaze with fire."

279
00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:25,440
The violence was sickening.

280
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,640
Rivals were abducted and mutilated.

281
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:35,600
One Norman lord who went
to a wedding feast came away
without ears, eyes, or genitals.

282
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:41,200
Amazingly, he survived
and ended his days as a monk.

283
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,280
The young duke hung on for 12 years.

284
00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:03,840
Then, in 1047, when he was 20 years
old, he faced a full-blown revolt.

285
00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:11,680
It was launched by his cousin, Guy,
who had mustered the backing of
"the greater part of Normandy".

286
00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:17,240
William confronted the rebels here
at Val-es-Dunes.

287
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:20,440
He'd called on the aid of
the French king, Henry I.

288
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:22,480
But William didn't need much help.

289
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:36,600
He charged into the carnage,
terrifying his enemies
with brute force.

290
00:27:43,360 --> 00:27:48,800
When they fled the battlefield,
it's said that he pursued them
relentlessly for miles.

291
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:55,280
Many were hacked down.

292
00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:58,280
Others drowned as they tried
to cross the River Orne.

293
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:08,320
The battle of Val-es-Dunes was
the making of the young duke.

294
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:11,880
Nothing could stop him now.

295
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:27,960
William set about restoring order
to the Norman state.

296
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,720
He built a new capital here at Caen,

297
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:35,040
complete with the two indispensable
expressions of Norman power -

298
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:36,720
a castle...

299
00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:43,440
..and two abbeys,
the Abbaye aux Hommes, for men,

300
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,240
and the Abbaye aux Dames, for women.

301
00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:59,360
Next, to secure his dynasty,
came marriage.

302
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:06,480
William's bride was a distant cousin
called Mathilda.

303
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:12,120
She was the daughter of Normandy's
most powerful neighbour,
the Count of Flanders.

304
00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:17,560
Even in marriage, the young duke
never forgot politics.

305
00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:22,560
But William and Mathilda appear
to have been happy together,

306
00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,600
despite their rather
ill-assorted appearance.

307
00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:27,760
He was almost six foot,

308
00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:32,000
she apparently
only four foot three inches.

309
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:37,720
At first, the Pope prohibited
their wedding on the grounds
that they were too closely related.

310
00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:43,920
The church had very strict rules
at this time about marriage
between cousins, however distant.

311
00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:50,640
But they went ahead and got married
anyway, and then did penance
by building their two abbeys.

312
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:54,880
This is Mathilda's,
the great Abbaye aux Dames.

313
00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:20,360
The abbeys of Caen are a high point
of Norman church building.

314
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:26,960
This was a golden age for Normandy,

315
00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:32,400
and William was asserting
his Christian piety
and the magnificence of his power.

316
00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:46,560
The abbeys share
the same imperial pretensions
as the church of Mont St Michel,

317
00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:48,800
but they are more sophisticated.

318
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:55,480
Their arches more graceful,

319
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:57,960
their columns more refined.

320
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:17,320
The duke was a fervent Christian.

321
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:23,080
But he'd been hardened
by his enemies
and the trials of his childhood.

322
00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:28,480
William could be
devastatingly savage.

323
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:32,280
One story that concerns
his siege of the city of Alencon

324
00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:36,880
tells how the defenders hung out
animal skins over the battlements

325
00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:41,040
to mock the fact that his mother
was an embalmer's daughter.

326
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:46,520
When he captured the place,
William ordered the offenders'
hands and feet to be cut off,

327
00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:52,280
and then their eyes to be gouged out
to satisfy his desire for revenge.

328
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:05,360
William ruthlessly restored
Normandy's power,
prestige and wealth.

329
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:14,080
One Norman historian remarked that
he was "ruler of his whole land,

330
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:17,400
"something which is
scarcely found anywhere else."

331
00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:28,800
By the time he was in his 30s,
William was secure enough to
consider expanding his territories.

332
00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:31,560
In 1063, he invaded
the county of Maine,

333
00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:34,000
which lies to the south of Normandy,

334
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:37,360
crushed the fierce resistance
he encountered,

335
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:39,480
and added it to his dominions.

336
00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:43,320
But he already had in mind
a yet greater prize,

337
00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:49,080
a large and powerful kingdom that
lay not far away across the sea.

338
00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:59,640
What happened next
would catapult the Normans

339
00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:03,960
and their ambitious leader to
the very centre of European power.

340
00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:11,000
11th-century England offered
much more than just territory.

341
00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:17,120
King Edward the Confessor
ruled over one of the wealthiest

342
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:19,840
and best-governed states in Europe -

343
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:22,760
efficient and highly centralised.

344
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:29,720
Only the king could mint money.

345
00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:38,280
And the English silver penny was
famous for its purity and stability.

346
00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:46,840
Most importantly, money flowed
into the royal treasury, thanks to
England's sophisticated tax system.

347
00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:52,360
But England was confronting
the most dangerous prospect

348
00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:57,800
that a medieval kingdom could face -
the death of a king without an heir.

349
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:01,840
King Edward the Confessor was later
to be made a saint, partly because,

350
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:05,840
it is said, he lived and died
a virgin, even though married.

351
00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:12,000
But from the point of view of
dynastic politics, the death of
a childless ruler was a disaster.

352
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:14,520
And disaster was looming.

353
00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:21,640
King Edward was dying,

354
00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:26,240
and the Normans had become
so entwined
in the dynastic networks of Europe

355
00:34:26,240 --> 00:34:30,720
that William could make a plausible
claim to the English throne.

356
00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:36,240
He was Edward's cousin,
and had known him since childhood.

357
00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:41,840
When Edward succeeded to
the English throne in 1042,

358
00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:45,960
he'd been living in exile
in Normandy for almost 25 years.

359
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:50,160
He was a stranger in his own land,
who knew his cousin, Duke William,

360
00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:52,920
far better than he knew
the English aristocracy.

361
00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:59,520
William even claimed that Edward
promised him the English throne
after Edward's death.

362
00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:04,080
And that was a prize William was
determined to get his hands on.

363
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:11,120
In France, William was a duke,
but in England he could be a king.

364
00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:16,880
And kingship in the Middle Ages
was an institution blessed
and approved by God.

365
00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:20,680
But William had a rival.

366
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:26,160
Earl Harold Godwinson had
no hereditary claim to the throne.

367
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:32,240
But he was the richest man
in England, a successful general
and a skilful politician.

368
00:35:32,240 --> 00:35:36,800
He claimed that Edward had promised
HIM the throne too.

369
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,960
The Norman duke's claim to
the English throne was strengthened

370
00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:52,200
when Harold made a mysterious
journey to Northern France in 1064.

371
00:35:55,080 --> 00:36:00,560
The story is told at the beginning
of the greatest surviving record
of the Norman conquest.

372
00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:16,440
This is the Bayeux Tapestry,

373
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:20,840
one of the most amazing objects
surviving from the Middle Ages.

374
00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:31,320
It's over 900 years old,

375
00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:35,920
and it sheds a unique light
on that period.

376
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:40,480
The 11th century is a distant
and in some ways a dark period,

377
00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:45,480
but then suddenly,
like a searchlight
cutting though that darkness,

378
00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:49,120
we have this - 70 metres
of detailed visual imagery.

379
00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:55,520
It's a masterpiece of needlework.

380
00:36:55,520 --> 00:37:00,000
The colours are clear and fresh,

381
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:01,800
and when we look in detail,

382
00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:05,000
we can see how carefully
observed every scene is.

383
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,640
You can tell from this
who are the English

384
00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:10,880
and who are the Normans
by their hairstyle.

385
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:16,320
The English invariably have
shoulder-length hair and moustaches.

386
00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:19,200
The Normans are clean shaven,

387
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:21,840
with a savagely high razor cut
at the back.

388
00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:31,160
Modern historians can enrich their
story with photographs or film.

389
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:33,120
Medievalists can't do that.

390
00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:37,200
But once in a while,
they have a wonderful gift
of something like this,

391
00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:40,160
something like a medieval film strip

392
00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:45,080
which tells us about a remarkable
event in European history.

393
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:58,360
It's believed that the tapestry
was commissioned by William's
half-brother Bishop Odo.

394
00:37:59,880 --> 00:38:04,960
Its size and complexity tell us
the Normans regarded this expedition

395
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:07,760
as more than just another bout
of war-making.

396
00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:13,160
It begins
with Harold's journey to France.

397
00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:15,920
We don't know why he went.

398
00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:21,640
But we do know that the voyage
would lead to disaster for Harold...

399
00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:23,280
and for England.

400
00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:28,120
Here we see Harold and his men
getting on board ship.

401
00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:30,800
They're sailing into the Channel,
across to France.

402
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:37,240
The wind blows them, unfortunately,
to enemy soil, the land of
Guy of Ponthieu, who imprisons them.

403
00:38:37,240 --> 00:38:40,200
Duke William of Normandy
gets to hear about this,

404
00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:44,040
and he demands
that Harold should be sent to him.

405
00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:47,480
And when he's there, he treats
Harold as an honoured guest.

406
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:51,400
He even invites him
to go on campaign with him,

407
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:55,720
so Harold is actually fighting
in William's army.

408
00:38:55,720 --> 00:38:59,920
We see the army proceeding
towards Brittany.

409
00:38:59,920 --> 00:39:03,440
They pass Mont St Michel
on their way.

410
00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:08,480
Harold distinguishes himself in
this warfare. He's a kind of hero.

411
00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:12,520
And in return,
William actually knights him.

412
00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:14,680
He gives him arms.

413
00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:19,440
A sign of great honour,
but also perhaps of subordination.

414
00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,280
And then,
on their return to Normandy,

415
00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:25,760
we have one of the most important
scenes in the whole tapestry.

416
00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:30,400
It shows Harold taking an oath,
his hands on reliquaries -

417
00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:36,320
containers with saints' bones
inside - swearing to Duke William.

418
00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:38,520
It doesn't say what the oath is.

419
00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:41,440
William's story is
that the oath was,

420
00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:46,480
"I, Harold, will support your claim
to be the next king of England."

421
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:49,680
We'll never know
exactly what happened.

422
00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:52,760
Some people think
it's unlikely that Harold,

423
00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:55,040
the most powerful man in England,

424
00:39:55,040 --> 00:39:59,080
with an eye to becoming king
himself, would take this oath.

425
00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:02,320
But what is clear is what
William thought had happened.

426
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:05,200
Harold had sworn before God

427
00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:08,920
to recognise him
as the next King of England.

428
00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:14,600
And it was on that that he based
his invasion of England in 1066.

429
00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:30,360
The death of Edward the Confessor
on 5th January 1066 was like
the crack of a starting gun.

430
00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:38,240
First in the field was Harold.

431
00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:44,160
He wasted no time, and had himself
crowned king in Westminster Abbey

432
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:46,640
on the same day
as Edward's funeral.

433
00:40:48,640 --> 00:40:53,040
In Normandy, William was out hunting
when he heard the news.

434
00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:58,840
According to one historian,
"he became as a man outraged."

435
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:08,800
Another chronicler denounced Harold
as a "pseudo king".

436
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:14,840
Worse, he had perjured himself,
committing a grave sin against God.

437
00:41:17,680 --> 00:41:21,680
Nature itself appeared to be
disturbed by this wickedness.

438
00:41:25,240 --> 00:41:30,400
A few months after
Harold's coronation,
Halley's comet appeared in the sky.

439
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:39,000
For people in the Middle Ages,
the appearance of a comet
was a sign from heaven.

440
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:44,640
It meant some great change
was about to occur,
perhaps the downfall of a regime.

441
00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:49,320
A comet was even called
"the terror of kings".

442
00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:52,960
And Harold had reason to be afraid.

443
00:41:54,800 --> 00:42:00,000
Nothing could now stop a Norman bid
to remove the usurper.

444
00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:05,200
Ever the politician, William first
launched a diplomatic offensive.

445
00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:10,000
He asked his barons and the rulers
of other European kingdoms

446
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:12,520
to support his claim
to the English throne.

447
00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:17,360
William sought support everywhere.

448
00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:22,080
He even sent envoys to Rome to get
the backing of Pope Alexander.

449
00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:27,400
They came back with a papal banner
to carry into battle,

450
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:30,240
one of the first ever issued.

451
00:42:30,240 --> 00:42:34,160
In the words of the Norman
chronicler, William of Poitiers,

452
00:42:34,160 --> 00:42:38,640
"he could now attack his enemies
with greater boldness and security."

453
00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:41,520
William had God on his side.

454
00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:53,400
The way was clear
for a full-scale military invasion.

455
00:42:56,120 --> 00:43:02,800
William of Jumieges
recounts the felling of trees to
construct a fleet of 3,000 ships...

456
00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:10,840
..enough to carry a quarter
of a million men to England...

457
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:16,600
..with all their horses,
weapons and armour.

458
00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:25,920
William of Jumieges
was exaggerating.

459
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:29,320
He was, after all, the official
historian of the Normans.

460
00:43:29,320 --> 00:43:35,600
We now think that maybe
700 ships carrying 7,000 men
would be nearer the mark.

461
00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:41,080
Whatever the numbers,
this was a vast, efficient,
well-organised operation.

462
00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:46,280
William recruited troops
from all over northern France,
well beyond his own duchy,

463
00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:49,360
promising them the rewards
of the adventure -

464
00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:52,120
wealth and power in England.

465
00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:06,560
King Harold had deployed his troops
on the south coast of England

466
00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:09,120
and was waiting
for William to attack.

467
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:15,760
But William didn't come.

468
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:20,840
His ships were grounded in France
by unfavourable winds.

469
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:27,840
The weeks went by,
and there was still no sign
of the great Norman fleet.

470
00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:39,960
As summer turned into autumn,
Harold thought that William
would not now risk the crossing.

471
00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:43,200
The winds were too strong,
the sea too rough.

472
00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:46,720
Besides, Harold's own provisions
were now running low.

473
00:44:46,720 --> 00:44:48,320
He sent his men home.

474
00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:51,640
England was now open to attack.

475
00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:54,920
Just a few days later,
the attack came.

476
00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:57,480
But not from William.

477
00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:05,320
The invasion came from the north,
from Scandinavia.

478
00:45:17,960 --> 00:45:23,320
The king of Norway,
Harald Hardrada, "Hard Ruler",
was a ruthless warrior,

479
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:26,680
and he too had his claims
on the English throne.

480
00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:31,840
Hardrada landed
in the north of England
with a vast army of Viking warriors.

481
00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:36,240
They captured York
and defeated the local earls.

482
00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:44,480
Harold marched north
and took the Norwegian army by
surprise on 25th September 1066.

483
00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:56,840
At the Battle of Stamford Bridge,
the invaders were
completely defeated.

484
00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:09,160
It's said that of the 300 Norwegian
ships that had originally landed,

485
00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:12,880
only 20 were needed
to carry the survivors home.

486
00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:16,280
Harald Hardrada
was amongst the many dead.

487
00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:19,440
The Viking age was coming to an end.

488
00:46:31,360 --> 00:46:34,200
Harold Godwinson was triumphant.

489
00:46:37,200 --> 00:46:39,560
But on the other side
of the Channel,

490
00:46:39,560 --> 00:46:41,800
William was still waiting.

491
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:46,000
Waiting didn't come easily
to William.

492
00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:49,760
You can imagine him staring at
the weathervane of the local church,

493
00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:52,720
praying for the wind to change.

494
00:46:52,720 --> 00:46:55,280
Eventually, he turned
to the supernatural.

495
00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:59,960
He had the body of the local saint,
Saint Valery, taken from its tomb

496
00:46:59,960 --> 00:47:03,080
and carried in solemn procession
through the town.

497
00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:06,840
And William's prayers
were finally answered.

498
00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:13,640
On the night of 28th September 1066,

499
00:47:13,640 --> 00:47:18,840
the winds changed, and William's
fleet sailed the 70 miles to Sussex.

500
00:47:22,960 --> 00:47:26,560
A forest of masts,
lit up with burning torches,

501
00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:28,800
slipped across the Channel.

502
00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:38,160
The ships looked startlingly
like the Viking warships

503
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:42,960
that had brought William's ancestors
to Normandy 150 years earlier.

504
00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:48,800
But this was no band of
pagan pirates on a raid.

505
00:47:50,080 --> 00:47:54,000
It was a well-trained,
disciplined army of knights...

506
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:56,240
coming to take a kingdom.

507
00:47:58,520 --> 00:48:03,640
Legend has it that as William
jumped ashore, he stumbled and fell.

508
00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:07,080
At first, the Normans regarded this
as a bad omen.

509
00:48:07,080 --> 00:48:10,960
But William immediately leapt up
and cried out,

510
00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:14,760
"See, I have grasped the land
with both hands!"

511
00:48:23,680 --> 00:48:27,840
The Normans began
as they meant to continue.

512
00:48:27,840 --> 00:48:31,720
They built two wooden motte and
bailey castles within a fortnight,

513
00:48:31,720 --> 00:48:36,040
one at Hastings
and one here, at Pevensey.

514
00:48:37,520 --> 00:48:40,680
They laid waste
to the surrounding countryside,

515
00:48:40,680 --> 00:48:45,000
wiping out the locals,
burning their houses

516
00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:47,600
and killing their animals.

517
00:48:50,680 --> 00:48:53,440
Exhausted from doing battle
in the north,

518
00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:58,520
Harold marched the 200 miles from
York to London in just five days.

519
00:49:02,120 --> 00:49:07,280
The story goes
that Harold's mother begged him to
postpone his showdown with William.

520
00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:09,720
After all,
Harold had the upper hand.

521
00:49:09,720 --> 00:49:14,280
He could trap William in Hastings,
starve him out,
and raise new forces.

522
00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:19,160
But Harold refused to listen
and charged headlong
into his next battle.

523
00:49:19,160 --> 00:49:21,720
William was just as eager.

524
00:49:21,720 --> 00:49:27,880
It's said that he was in such a rush
to confront Harold that he put
his mailcoat on back to front.

525
00:49:27,880 --> 00:49:29,720
Another bad omen?

526
00:49:29,720 --> 00:49:31,320
Not for William.

527
00:49:31,320 --> 00:49:33,200
"I trust in God.

528
00:49:33,200 --> 00:49:37,960
"Today you will see a duke
changed into a king."

529
00:49:59,440 --> 00:50:05,000
On this hillside,
on Saturday, 14th October 1066,

530
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:08,360
a single battle between
a few thousand men

531
00:50:08,360 --> 00:50:14,160
permanently changed the course
of history in England and beyond.

532
00:50:16,480 --> 00:50:21,600
It was said to have taken place
"at the grey apple tree".

533
00:50:21,600 --> 00:50:25,520
Nowadays,
the site is known simply as Battle.

534
00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:31,400
The English occupied this ridge,

535
00:50:31,400 --> 00:50:36,120
standing shoulder to shoulder,
many armed with huge axes.

536
00:50:36,120 --> 00:50:41,440
To protect themselves,
they overlapped their shields,
forming the shield wall.

537
00:50:47,280 --> 00:50:49,920
This was the traditional
way of fighting,

538
00:50:49,920 --> 00:50:52,240
tried and tested
over the centuries.

539
00:50:52,240 --> 00:50:57,000
Confronting them was something
startlingly new in English warfare.

540
00:50:57,000 --> 00:51:00,480
The Normans were drawn up
in three lines -

541
00:51:00,480 --> 00:51:05,960
first the archers, then the
infantry, then the mounted knights.

542
00:51:17,440 --> 00:51:24,840
It's said that William hung around
his neck the very saints' relics
on which Harold had sworn his oath.

543
00:51:24,840 --> 00:51:27,680
With the papal banner
fluttering in the breeze,

544
00:51:27,680 --> 00:51:32,880
he must have been confident that God
and the saints were backing HIM.

545
00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:50,320
Harold's army was battle weary and
exhausted from the long march south.

546
00:51:58,160 --> 00:52:01,360
Fighting began
about nine o'clock in the morning.

547
00:52:20,080 --> 00:52:22,240
The Normans charged uphill.

548
00:52:22,240 --> 00:52:25,800
The war cries on both sides
were soon drowned out

549
00:52:25,800 --> 00:52:27,520
by the clash of arms

550
00:52:27,520 --> 00:52:31,240
and the shrieks and groans
of the wounded and the dying.

551
00:52:38,120 --> 00:52:42,720
Harold's men were packed so densely
behind their solid shield wall

552
00:52:42,720 --> 00:52:45,080
that the dead were unable to fall.

553
00:52:47,240 --> 00:52:50,680
The Normans couldn't break
the English line.

554
00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:59,160
A rumour spread amongst the Normans
that William had been killed.

555
00:52:59,160 --> 00:53:02,960
The men on the left flank panicked
and began to rush down the hill.

556
00:53:07,360 --> 00:53:10,760
The English above broke ranks
and followed them.

557
00:53:14,520 --> 00:53:16,800
But William had not been killed.

558
00:53:16,800 --> 00:53:20,760
He pushed back his helmet
to reveal his face and called out,

559
00:53:20,760 --> 00:53:24,200
"I live, and with God's help
will conquer yet!"

560
00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:30,080
The Normans immediately rallied,
turned on the English who were
pursuing them, and cut them down.

561
00:53:38,320 --> 00:53:40,080
The English line was broken...

562
00:53:41,320 --> 00:53:43,440
..and the Normans charged in.

563
00:53:54,360 --> 00:53:59,480
The Bayeux Tapestry shows
all the confusion and desperation
of the battle.

564
00:54:02,920 --> 00:54:05,440
In the 11th century,
it was customary

565
00:54:05,440 --> 00:54:10,320
for the bishops to join in, though
they were forbidden to shed blood.

566
00:54:10,320 --> 00:54:14,600
Here's Bishop Odo,
William's half-brother.

567
00:54:14,600 --> 00:54:16,520
He's carrying a huge club.

568
00:54:18,040 --> 00:54:23,080
That way, he could break a few arms
or heads without any bloodshed.

569
00:54:27,440 --> 00:54:31,680
Bodies fall in a heap of
twisted and broken limbs.

570
00:54:35,400 --> 00:54:39,040
The hillside must have been
saturated with blood.

571
00:54:48,600 --> 00:54:52,840
Then came the decisive moment -
the death of King Harold.

572
00:54:52,840 --> 00:54:57,960
Two early accounts of the battle
say that an arrow struck the king
in the eye.

573
00:55:04,320 --> 00:55:06,360
The king was dead.

574
00:55:09,680 --> 00:55:12,600
And a world was coming to an end.

575
00:55:17,200 --> 00:55:22,440
Harold's body was so mutilated
that it couldn't even be found.

576
00:55:22,440 --> 00:55:28,880
It was recognised eventually,
legend has it, by his mistress,
Edith "the Swan necked",

577
00:55:28,880 --> 00:55:34,480
who identified it by "certain,
secret marks" known only to her.

578
00:55:34,480 --> 00:55:39,360
And along with Harold, Anglo-Saxon
England died on this battlefield.

579
00:55:39,360 --> 00:55:42,360
One of William's chaplains
describes the scene.

580
00:55:42,360 --> 00:55:46,280
"The flower of English youth,
the flower of English nobility

581
00:55:46,280 --> 00:55:50,800
"covered the ground far and wide,
filthy with their own blood."

582
00:55:55,880 --> 00:56:00,000
It's said that William refused
to bury the English dead.

583
00:56:01,520 --> 00:56:03,840
They lay rotting for days.

584
00:56:06,760 --> 00:56:12,600
He would later relent
and build an abbey here as penance
for the carnage of the battle.

585
00:56:14,240 --> 00:56:19,160
Its altar is said to have been built
on the spot where Harold fell.

586
00:56:24,880 --> 00:56:29,760
But in the immediate aftermath of
the battle, William felt no remorse.

587
00:56:29,760 --> 00:56:36,880
A week after his victory, this
bastard descendant of Viking pirates
set off on the march to London.

588
00:56:36,880 --> 00:56:42,040
He was now William the Conqueror,
soon to be William, King of England.

589
00:56:42,040 --> 00:56:45,160
The future belonged to the Normans.

590
00:57:01,120 --> 00:57:03,040
In the next episode,

591
00:57:03,040 --> 00:57:05,880
Anglo-Saxon rebellion...

592
00:57:07,720 --> 00:57:11,760
..the Normans transform
English politics and culture...

593
00:57:13,240 --> 00:57:16,680
..and a new order in Scotland...

594
00:57:16,680 --> 00:57:19,200
Wales...

595
00:57:19,200 --> 00:57:21,080
and Ireland.

596
00:57:22,640 --> 00:57:25,880
And if you'd like to walk
in the steps of the Normans,

597
00:57:25,880 --> 00:57:29,840
you can download maps
of Norman walks all over the UK

598
00:57:29,840 --> 00:57:34,600
at bbc.co.uk/history.

599
00:57:48,360 --> 00:57:51,440
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

600
00:57:51,440 --> 00:57:54,720
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk