1 00:00:00,880 --> 00:00:05,580 So far, on Blood of the Vikings, I've traced the first 200 years of the Viking 2 00:00:05,580 --> 00:00:10,160 Age in Britain and Ireland, from raids and invasions to peaceful settlement. 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:18,060 This time, I discover how a new generation of Danes conquered the whole 4 00:00:18,060 --> 00:00:23,840 England... ..and put a Viking on the throne. 5 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:28,340 But why was rule in England short -lived? 6 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:32,240 While on the Isle of Man today, they still have a Viking parliament. 7 00:01:06,250 --> 00:01:07,430 It's 991. 8 00:01:08,090 --> 00:01:12,690 93 Viking longships are advancing up the Blackwater Estuary on the Essex coast. 9 00:01:13,270 --> 00:01:17,150 This is the biggest raid England has seen for almost 40 years. 10 00:01:17,390 --> 00:01:20,250 But these Vikings are no motley collection of pirates. 11 00:01:20,650 --> 00:01:24,690 They've raised a powerful, organised fleet to threaten the shores of England 12 00:01:24,690 --> 00:01:25,690 once again. 13 00:01:28,390 --> 00:01:30,210 The terror has returned. 14 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,140 In the previous years of peace, England has become rich. 15 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:43,720 But now it's ruled by Æthelred the Unready, a young and militarily 16 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:46,540 king, and the Vikings can sense an opportunity. 17 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:53,280 They sail towards Malden and land on Northey Island to prepare their attack. 18 00:01:58,980 --> 00:02:03,480 But on the mainland, the English are waiting for them, under the command of 19 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:05,800 Birknot. a veteran military leader. 20 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:12,600 This much is accepted as fact, but what followed became the subject of an epic 21 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,460 Old English poem, The Battle of Malden. 22 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:23,600 The Viking herald steps forward and makes demands, not for land, but for 23 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:26,780 tribute, money to go away and leave the English in peace. 24 00:02:28,380 --> 00:02:30,460 The Vikings have turned to extortion. 25 00:02:31,530 --> 00:02:35,230 The poem has been studied closely by historian Dr. Sam Newton. 26 00:02:35,530 --> 00:02:39,630 He takes up the story as Bert Knopp responds to the Vikings' demands. 27 00:02:42,670 --> 00:02:43,930 Which loosely translated... 28 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:57,720 He says, do you hear, sailor, what this folk says? 29 00:02:57,940 --> 00:03:03,360 We will give you tribute, we will give you spears as tribute, deadly points and 30 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:08,600 time -tested swords, war gear from which you in battle will not profit. 31 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:14,160 It is the most immortal note of English defiance which has echoed in various 32 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:16,220 ways right down to the 20th century. 33 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:21,460 But the high tide means that so far it's just a war of words. 34 00:03:21,700 --> 00:03:25,220 The two armies... have to wait until low water to fight it out. 35 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:31,580 Then, Bert not make the tactical error. 36 00:03:31,920 --> 00:03:35,660 He and his men stand back and allow the Vikings to cross the causeway. 37 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:41,860 He wanted to bring this lot to battle. If not, they could sail away up the 38 00:03:41,860 --> 00:03:45,400 estuary and strike at will up and down the coast, and it could be weeks or 39 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:48,760 months before the English army had a chance to get at them again. 40 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:52,660 And so the Battle of Malden begins in earnest. 41 00:03:53,140 --> 00:03:58,180 The poem becomes very dramatic, centring on the heroism of the English and their 42 00:03:58,180 --> 00:03:59,900 loyalty to their leader, Bertnott. 43 00:04:01,300 --> 00:04:03,800 At one point, he is struck by a spear. 44 00:04:04,739 --> 00:04:09,240 his shield companion beside him, draws out the spear from Brythinoth's body and 45 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:12,880 throws it back at the viking who hurled it and kills that viking with the same 46 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:13,880 spear. 47 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,420 But after all this heroism... 48 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:19,980 Who were the eventual winners? 49 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:25,380 Well, in, of course, military terms, the Vikings were the winners. But the poem 50 00:04:25,380 --> 00:04:30,220 makes the resistance and defence of the English such a heroic deed in itself 51 00:04:30,220 --> 00:04:34,600 that it becomes a kind of moral victory and a great rallying call for further 52 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:38,000 resistance. It's a bit like the Dunkirk spirit in that sense. 53 00:04:38,540 --> 00:04:41,860 But there was no denying the English had lost. 54 00:04:45,100 --> 00:04:46,260 In the end... 55 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:50,460 King Æthelred had no choice but to give the victorious Vikings exactly what they 56 00:04:50,460 --> 00:04:56,340 wanted. He handed over £10 ,000 in silver, a huge amount of money in those 57 00:04:56,500 --> 00:04:59,620 in the hope that they'd go away and stay away. 58 00:05:02,380 --> 00:05:07,520 It was a vain hope, because once the English paid up, it was inevitable that 59 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:08,920 Vikings would be back again. 60 00:05:13,070 --> 00:05:17,610 With each fresh attack, the Vikings demanded more and more, and the English 61 00:05:17,610 --> 00:05:18,750 meekly paid up. 62 00:05:24,050 --> 00:05:29,390 The payments became known as dame gang, money for the Danes, and in today's 63 00:05:29,390 --> 00:05:32,870 prices would eventually total hundreds of millions of pounds. 64 00:05:35,850 --> 00:05:40,730 The Anglo -Faxon chronicles tell of a rocketing extortion racket which lasted 65 00:05:40,730 --> 00:05:41,790 for 20 years. 66 00:05:45,390 --> 00:05:50,730 994. And all the raiding army came to Southampton, and they were paid £16 67 00:05:51,670 --> 00:05:57,350 997. The raiding army brought indescribable war booty... 1002. Here in 68 00:05:57,350 --> 00:05:59,670 year, they were paid £24 ,000. 69 00:05:59,990 --> 00:06:04,450 1007. The tax to the hostile raiding army was £30 ,000. 70 00:06:04,850 --> 00:06:07,490 1012. £48 ,000. 71 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:17,240 Only a few were brave enough to defy the Danes. 72 00:06:17,780 --> 00:06:22,760 This London church of St Alfidge commemorates one, a bishop who refused 73 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:24,900 and who suffered the consequences. 74 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:32,140 Then, on the Saturday, the raiding army became much stirred up against the 75 00:06:32,140 --> 00:06:34,480 bishop because he did not want to offer them any money. 76 00:06:35,100 --> 00:06:38,520 Also, they were very drunk because there was wine brought from the south. 77 00:06:39,300 --> 00:06:42,740 Then they pleased the bishop and then pelted him there with bones. 78 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:46,540 And one of them struck him on the head with the butt of an axe. 79 00:06:46,900 --> 00:06:52,460 With the blow, he sank down, and his holy blood fell on the earth. 80 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:58,840 But such resistance was rare, and the Danes grew richer and richer. 81 00:07:04,580 --> 00:07:06,380 So where did all that money go? 82 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:08,500 Back here to the Viking homeland? 83 00:07:09,300 --> 00:07:13,220 More Anglo -Saxon coins have been found in Scandinavia than in England. 84 00:07:13,790 --> 00:07:17,550 And I'd like to know if they were earned through legitimate trading or the 85 00:07:17,550 --> 00:07:20,210 proceeds of a highly successful extortion racket. 86 00:07:27,350 --> 00:07:33,050 In 1997, a hoard of 120 English coins was discovered in a remote part of 87 00:07:33,050 --> 00:07:35,630 Denmark. Is this Dane gold? 88 00:07:37,990 --> 00:07:40,930 All these coins are 990s. 89 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:48,140 It's a coin type that was struck from about 91 to 97 all over England. 90 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:50,780 So whose ring is that? That's Edelred II. 91 00:07:51,300 --> 00:07:57,540 So that's Edelred the Unready. Yes, it is. And this is a coin with Edelred's 92 00:07:57,540 --> 00:08:04,420 portrait, his name, and the inscription, Edelred Rex Anglorum, Edelred, King 93 00:08:04,420 --> 00:08:05,420 of the English. 94 00:08:05,540 --> 00:08:09,720 And it might be a dengue payment because... 95 00:08:10,090 --> 00:08:13,510 A usual hoard in Scandinavia would be all mixed up. 96 00:08:14,370 --> 00:08:18,410 English coins, German coins, a few Arabic coins. 97 00:08:19,010 --> 00:08:23,710 They'll be of all kinds of dates. But this is a very, very pure hoard. 98 00:08:25,850 --> 00:08:29,110 It seems unlikely that these coins have been in general circulation. 99 00:08:30,350 --> 00:08:32,870 So surely this points to them being Dengeld. 100 00:08:34,049 --> 00:08:36,669 Perhaps the share given to an individual Viking. 101 00:08:39,150 --> 00:08:42,789 A lot of them look like perfect coins, don't they? But some of them are bent. 102 00:08:43,070 --> 00:08:44,070 Why is that? 103 00:08:44,169 --> 00:08:49,030 The Danes at that period were interested in the quality of the metal. 104 00:08:49,230 --> 00:08:53,550 And one way of checking the quality is to take the coin and bend it. 105 00:08:53,810 --> 00:08:57,990 If it's soft and you can bend it easily, it's good silver. 106 00:08:58,390 --> 00:09:00,070 If it cracks, it's bad silver. 107 00:09:02,910 --> 00:09:06,950 But how, in just 40 years, have the Vikings become so powerful? 108 00:09:12,460 --> 00:09:16,420 What had changed here in Denmark to turn the Vikings into such an organized 109 00:09:16,420 --> 00:09:21,240 fighting for One 110 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:28,160 clue lies here in 111 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:34,700 yelling in the west of Denmark Today 112 00:09:34,700 --> 00:09:39,600 it's a small quiet town, but in the 900s it was the capital of a royal dynasty 113 00:09:40,270 --> 00:09:42,970 and would become the birthplace of the modern Danish state. 114 00:09:51,010 --> 00:09:56,110 The first king of a united Denmark was Harald Bluetooth, who was probably given 115 00:09:56,110 --> 00:09:58,150 his colourful name on account of his rotten teeth. 116 00:09:58,830 --> 00:10:02,930 But despite his dental afflictions, he was a ruler who changed the course of 117 00:10:02,930 --> 00:10:03,930 Danish history. 118 00:10:04,130 --> 00:10:08,090 And here, carved on this massive boulder, is the record of his greatest 119 00:10:08,090 --> 00:10:09,090 achievements. 120 00:10:10,350 --> 00:10:16,210 One side is completely covered in runes, an early form of writing used by the 121 00:10:16,210 --> 00:10:17,210 Vikings. 122 00:10:20,530 --> 00:10:24,210 On another side is a strange carving of a mythical monster. 123 00:10:26,870 --> 00:10:31,110 But this third side is the most astonishing, because there's what 124 00:10:31,110 --> 00:10:32,110 the figure of Christ. 125 00:10:32,890 --> 00:10:37,710 You can make out the face, outstretched arms and hands, right down to the feet. 126 00:10:38,550 --> 00:10:42,090 Now surely... At this time, the Vikings in Scandinavia were pagan. 127 00:10:42,430 --> 00:10:44,810 So what are they doing carving images of Christ? 128 00:10:45,690 --> 00:10:48,210 The runic inscription ought to provide the answer. 129 00:10:49,930 --> 00:10:54,290 Professor Elsa Rosedahl, a leading Viking archaeologist, has come to 130 00:10:54,290 --> 00:10:56,150 it for me. So what does this say? 131 00:10:56,810 --> 00:11:02,030 It starts with the name of the king, Harald Bluetooth, who raised the stone. 132 00:11:02,730 --> 00:11:09,330 Harald King ordered the monument to be made for... 133 00:11:09,580 --> 00:11:16,520 Gorm, his father, and in memory of Tyre, his mother, that Harald, 134 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:23,220 who won for himself Denmark and 135 00:11:23,220 --> 00:11:29,800 Norway, and then the last deed, and made the Danes Christian. 136 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:35,160 So his third great deed was to make the Danes Christian, to Christianize the 137 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:38,120 Danes. So that explains why you got the figure of Christ. Yes. 138 00:11:38,560 --> 00:11:39,479 On this side? 139 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:45,640 Yes. And it's the oldest great picture of Christ in Scandinavia. 140 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:51,400 So what made Harold become a Christian and convert an entire nation? 141 00:11:53,420 --> 00:11:56,020 Could it have been more than just his religious belief? 142 00:11:58,100 --> 00:12:03,380 A very practical political reason may have been that the great country to the 143 00:12:03,380 --> 00:12:04,440 south, Germany... 144 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:11,620 The German emperor, he liked to convert pagan peoples. He went on crusades, and 145 00:12:11,620 --> 00:12:17,720 it's much better to do it yourself than to be conquered by a foreign power. 146 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:29,380 Harold Bluetooth's conversion to Christianity not only ensured that the 147 00:12:29,380 --> 00:12:32,740 were left in peace, it also helped to enhance his own status. 148 00:12:37,390 --> 00:12:41,490 As a Christian king, he was acknowledged to be Christ's representative on earth, 149 00:12:41,690 --> 00:12:45,430 a position which brought almost universal loyalty and allegiance. 150 00:12:46,910 --> 00:12:51,130 For the Danes, becoming Christian wasn't just a matter of exchanging a 151 00:12:51,130 --> 00:12:55,590 collection of Norse gods for one Christian god. It also brought them into 152 00:12:55,590 --> 00:13:00,890 European fold, into a culture that was centred on books and learning, laws and 153 00:13:00,890 --> 00:13:06,030 taxes. But perhaps more significantly, a Christian king had divine authority. 154 00:13:06,750 --> 00:13:10,190 which gave him huge power and the means of showing it. 155 00:13:11,930 --> 00:13:15,210 Like this, the massive fort at Trelleborg. 156 00:13:18,290 --> 00:13:23,450 When it was excavated in the 1930s, archaeologists found that its interior 157 00:13:23,450 --> 00:13:24,910 laid out with perfect symmetry. 158 00:13:26,890 --> 00:13:32,770 Divided by roads, each quadrant contained identical boat -shaped 159 00:13:32,770 --> 00:13:33,770 all. 160 00:13:38,750 --> 00:13:42,670 This regimented design is very similar to that of Roman military forts built 161 00:13:42,670 --> 00:13:44,230 nearly a thousand years earlier. 162 00:13:52,890 --> 00:13:56,930 Archaeologist Dr Lars Jørgensen has made a detailed study of Viking military 163 00:13:56,930 --> 00:13:57,930 architecture. 164 00:13:58,950 --> 00:14:02,430 I mean, this is a huge amount of effort to put into constructing something like 165 00:14:02,430 --> 00:14:04,210 this, isn't it? I mean, an enormous amount of resources. 166 00:14:04,810 --> 00:14:07,090 Were all these built of timber, the buildings? 167 00:14:07,820 --> 00:14:12,080 In the Viking period, Denmark, all houses were timber built. And actually 168 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:16,160 archaeologists have tried to calculate how many timbers have been used or how 169 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:20,860 much timbers have been used here. And they have calculated 8 ,000 trees was 170 00:14:20,860 --> 00:14:23,720 down in order to build this military installation. 171 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:26,480 So how many soldiers would a fort like this contain? 172 00:14:26,900 --> 00:14:31,580 Well, I would say around 1 ,000 would have been possible. 173 00:14:35,630 --> 00:14:39,730 So if you've got a fort like this with a thousand professional soldiers and all 174 00:14:39,730 --> 00:14:43,430 the effort that's gone into this, why is the king building it? 175 00:14:44,530 --> 00:14:49,630 There are different theories about that. One is that they were constructed in 176 00:14:49,630 --> 00:14:53,050 order to control internal troubles in his kingdom. 177 00:14:53,590 --> 00:14:57,450 The second one says that they were a defence against the German Empire. 178 00:14:57,930 --> 00:15:01,590 And the third one says that they were for training soldiers. 179 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:06,040 who was going to participate in the attacks on England. 180 00:15:07,620 --> 00:15:11,880 Which of those theories do you like best? 181 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:18,700 I like the last one best, actually, because we have three of these 182 00:15:18,700 --> 00:15:22,660 like this size, and we have a force in northern Jutland, which is much, much 183 00:15:22,660 --> 00:15:23,660 larger. 184 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,600 And it's quite clear that a large fortress in northern Jutland are facing 185 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:28,539 English area. 186 00:15:28,540 --> 00:15:32,520 So I think actually that at that time they were planning to attack England. 187 00:15:34,860 --> 00:15:38,700 Harold Bluetooth seems to have had a large, well -trained and disciplined 188 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:43,040 And England, made rich through trade and with a wealthy church, must have been a 189 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:44,040 tempting target. 190 00:15:44,700 --> 00:15:48,500 Although it wouldn't be until Harold was succeeded by his son that the attacks 191 00:15:48,500 --> 00:15:49,520 on England would start. 192 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:03,900 Not only did the Danes have a new military machine, but they developed new 193 00:16:03,900 --> 00:16:08,940 military technology, warships capable of delivering more troops and faster than 194 00:16:08,940 --> 00:16:09,940 ever before. 195 00:16:14,740 --> 00:16:20,400 In 1956, amateur divers in the Roskildefjord at Skuldelev discovered 196 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:23,780 of a Viking ship, of a type that hadn't been seen before. 197 00:16:24,410 --> 00:16:28,110 And as more ships emerged, this became one of the most important marine 198 00:16:28,110 --> 00:16:29,910 excavations of the 20th century. 199 00:16:38,590 --> 00:16:43,690 Under the stinking sludge, they found the remains of five Viking ships broken 200 00:16:43,690 --> 00:16:45,890 into hundreds of thousands of soggy fragments. 201 00:16:51,319 --> 00:16:55,900 Reassembling this archaeological treasure was a painstaking process and 202 00:16:55,900 --> 00:16:56,900 years to complete. 203 00:16:58,540 --> 00:17:02,200 But the results present a catalogue of Viking ship designs. 204 00:17:08,660 --> 00:17:14,160 Of the five ships, three were short and wide, designed for carrying large 205 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:15,160 cargoes. 206 00:17:20,970 --> 00:17:22,910 The other two were warships. 207 00:17:23,150 --> 00:17:27,270 They were long and narrow, designed specifically for battle. 208 00:17:39,650 --> 00:17:43,710 This is the biggest, a warship 30 metres long. 209 00:17:44,130 --> 00:17:47,370 This ship may well have played a key role in Viking attacks. 210 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:52,480 transporting a hundred warriors at a time to battles in Norway, France or 211 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:53,480 England. 212 00:17:55,720 --> 00:18:00,980 That ship, Skuldulev 2, is now being reconstructed at the Viking Ship Museum 213 00:18:00,980 --> 00:18:01,980 Roskilde. 214 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:13,060 It's been built in exactly the same way as the original, even using replicas of 215 00:18:13,060 --> 00:18:14,060 Viking tools. 216 00:18:14,490 --> 00:18:18,490 And this has revealed why these ships were so well adapted to sea voyages. 217 00:18:19,390 --> 00:18:21,710 The secret lies in their flexibility. 218 00:18:22,850 --> 00:18:26,370 Here you can see one of the planks which are nearly finished and you can feel 219 00:18:26,370 --> 00:18:29,770 how smooth the surface is, how very delicate it is. 220 00:18:30,210 --> 00:18:34,630 And since we have made this plank in the way we have, where we have kind of 221 00:18:34,630 --> 00:18:40,650 followed the grain in the wood from top to end, we get this very strong and very 222 00:18:40,650 --> 00:18:43,350 flexible plank. I think you please try and step on it. 223 00:18:43,850 --> 00:18:44,709 It won't break? 224 00:18:44,710 --> 00:18:45,710 No, please. 225 00:18:48,650 --> 00:18:49,890 See how flexible it is? 226 00:18:51,710 --> 00:18:52,970 It's really a strong plank. 227 00:18:54,370 --> 00:18:55,530 I'll try to stand up. 228 00:18:58,010 --> 00:18:59,550 That's fantastic. Because it comes to the ground. 229 00:19:00,330 --> 00:19:05,230 You can imagine when planks like this are built into ships, how these ships 230 00:19:05,230 --> 00:19:08,610 move and bend in the heavy seas in the stormy weather. 231 00:19:15,370 --> 00:19:21,010 I want to find out what it's really like to be part of the crew of a Viking 232 00:19:21,010 --> 00:19:25,190 warship. But Skull to Left 2 is going to take another three years to build. 233 00:19:25,510 --> 00:19:30,310 So I'm joining the crew of Number 5, the replica of the smaller warship. 234 00:19:44,750 --> 00:19:47,090 Oh, it gets up at an incredible speed very quickly, doesn't it? 235 00:19:54,130 --> 00:19:57,350 I've been a bit of a fraud, actually, in an Englishman rowing a Viking boat. Is 236 00:19:57,350 --> 00:19:58,349 this allowed? 237 00:19:58,350 --> 00:19:59,350 Yeah, it is allowed. 238 00:20:00,210 --> 00:20:00,490 Even 239 00:20:00,490 --> 00:20:09,370 on 240 00:20:09,370 --> 00:20:12,990 a calm sea, I could feel the ship flexing as we pulled on the oars. 241 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:14,780 But it was exhausting. 242 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,360 The Vikings must have been incredibly fit. 243 00:20:18,120 --> 00:20:21,460 Personally, I was quite relieved when the sail was hoisted. 244 00:20:24,060 --> 00:20:25,060 Sail on! 245 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,740 Harold Bluetooth's son, Sven Forkbeard. 246 00:20:40,170 --> 00:20:44,110 could command a fleet of warships capable of transporting thousands of 247 00:20:44,110 --> 00:20:45,110 across the North Sea. 248 00:20:45,690 --> 00:20:50,590 And following the battle at Malden, he led the Vikings in a series of attacks 249 00:20:50,590 --> 00:20:52,650 towns along the English coast and up rivers. 250 00:20:59,250 --> 00:21:03,370 But one place in particular was considered to be the greatest prize. 251 00:21:04,870 --> 00:21:06,310 The City of London. 252 00:21:07,670 --> 00:21:10,940 Here. A quarter of all English coins were minted. 253 00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:17,180 The city was repeatedly attacked, but again and again the Vikings were beaten 254 00:21:17,180 --> 00:21:18,180 off. 255 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:32,580 To get to their prize, the Vikings would have to take London Bridge, which stood 256 00:21:32,580 --> 00:21:34,260 on the same side of the present one. 257 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:37,960 Today the Thames is crossed by many bridges. 258 00:21:38,540 --> 00:21:40,600 But a thousand years ago, there was only one. 259 00:21:41,580 --> 00:21:45,600 Connecting the walled city of London with the trading centre of Southwark, it 260 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:49,680 was made entirely of wood and was said to be so wide that two wagons could 261 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:50,680 at the same time. 262 00:21:54,220 --> 00:21:59,060 The bridge was fought over many times, and lying in the Thames mud is the 263 00:21:59,060 --> 00:22:00,220 evidence of these battles. 264 00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:07,060 John, what exactly are these? I know they're axes, but what are they used 265 00:22:07,420 --> 00:22:08,480 Well, they're battle axes. 266 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:10,400 Battle axes of a Viking type. 267 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:12,820 And they were found very close to where we're standing now. 268 00:22:13,100 --> 00:22:18,860 Just behind us here, the building there was built in the 1920s. And the workmen 269 00:22:18,860 --> 00:22:21,700 on the site found six of these plus six spears. 270 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:23,720 How do you know that these are Viking? 271 00:22:24,100 --> 00:22:28,700 It's the shape. It's this very elegant broad blade, beautifully curved. 272 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:30,500 And they're a very handy weapon. 273 00:22:30,860 --> 00:22:36,000 There's this old story that a skilled axeman could shave somebody's moustache 274 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,940 off in the middle of a battle simply by using his axe. 275 00:22:39,420 --> 00:22:43,920 Now, these are weapons, but what's that? That's surely not a weapon, is it? 276 00:22:44,140 --> 00:22:48,740 It's a grappling hook found with the axes and the spears in the 1920s. 277 00:22:48,940 --> 00:22:52,840 It's the sort of thing you use on shipboard, perhaps for just pulling the 278 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:57,180 into the tide, but also to link two vessels together. 279 00:22:57,950 --> 00:22:58,950 Four for battle. 280 00:23:01,250 --> 00:23:05,450 Hooks like this are mentioned in one of the North Vargas, which tells of a 281 00:23:05,450 --> 00:23:06,850 daring attack on London Bridge. 282 00:23:13,030 --> 00:23:17,750 It describes how the Vikings attached grappling hooks to its supports and rode 283 00:23:17,750 --> 00:23:22,510 off hard downstream, pulling the bridge and all those on it down behind them. 284 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:45,180 At this time, the English were burdened with crippling taxes to pay the 285 00:23:45,180 --> 00:23:48,420 Danegeld, and lived under the constant threat of Viking attack. 286 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:53,280 They grew to loathe their tormentors, and there are stories of how they fought 287 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:54,280 back and took revenge. 288 00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:00,740 Here in the village of Hadstock in Essex, there's a grisly tale of the 289 00:24:00,740 --> 00:24:02,780 punishment inflicted on a captured Viking. 290 00:24:05,820 --> 00:24:10,940 Local legend has it that for centuries, nailed to the door of the church, was a 291 00:24:10,940 --> 00:24:12,340 piece of human skin. 292 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:20,180 It's said that it came from a marauding Dane who was caught by the locals and 293 00:24:20,180 --> 00:24:21,180 slayed alive. 294 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:29,120 Surprisingly, some of that skin still survives in the museum at nearby Saffron 295 00:24:29,120 --> 00:24:32,120 Walden. But is it really what it's claimed to be? 296 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:35,180 This is it. 297 00:24:35,900 --> 00:24:39,700 A little tiny fragment that was preserved underneath one of the door 298 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:45,920 Now, I've never seen preserved thousand -year -old human skin before, so I'm not 299 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:50,100 really qualified to say that that's what it is. But it's a horrible thought that 300 00:24:50,100 --> 00:24:53,680 this might really be something that's been ripped from the back of a living 301 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:54,680 Viking. 302 00:24:54,740 --> 00:24:59,400 But according to the museum records, there's absolutely no doubt about what 303 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:06,280 is. When it first came to the museum in 1847, it's described as a piece of human 304 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:08,680 skin from the church door at Hadstock. 305 00:25:09,260 --> 00:25:14,320 And a year later, in 1848, it was examined by Mr. Quicket of the Royal 306 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:19,120 of Surgeons, who states, I've been fortunate in making out the specimen of 307 00:25:19,120 --> 00:25:20,980 you last sent me to be human. 308 00:25:21,300 --> 00:25:23,740 I found on it three hairs which I preserved. 309 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:27,740 And he goes on further to say, I should state that the skin was in all 310 00:25:27,740 --> 00:25:31,980 probability removed from the back of the Dane and that he was a fair -haired 311 00:25:31,980 --> 00:25:32,980 person. 312 00:25:33,100 --> 00:25:35,740 And in 1974, another test. 313 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:40,640 at Leeds University concluded that the grain pattern corresponds closely to 314 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:44,520 human skin and it was from a person with fair or greying hair. 315 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:51,380 So there doesn't seem to be any doubt but now for the first time we can take 316 00:25:51,380 --> 00:25:56,860 a stage further and we can use modern genetic science to answer the question 317 00:25:56,860 --> 00:26:02,080 this really a relic of some terrible grisly event or is it just simply 318 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:03,080 legend? 319 00:26:06,350 --> 00:26:10,610 We asked a team from the Ancient Biomolecule Centre in Oxford to find 320 00:26:11,270 --> 00:26:15,510 They were given permission to slice off a tiny piece and analyse its DNA. 321 00:26:18,230 --> 00:26:20,430 The team leader is Dr Alan Cooper. 322 00:26:23,110 --> 00:26:26,130 Alan, did you actually manage to get any DNA out of that bit of skin? 323 00:26:26,430 --> 00:26:29,830 Well, we did. We were very pleased because we thought that the amount of 324 00:26:29,830 --> 00:26:33,010 degradation that the skin was showing would mean that there was no DNA left. 325 00:26:33,770 --> 00:26:38,070 but we were able to get quite a bit of DNA from the material inside the 326 00:26:38,070 --> 00:26:40,250 once we'd taken off that outer weathered layer. 327 00:26:40,890 --> 00:26:41,950 So what was it? 328 00:26:42,410 --> 00:26:48,310 Well, we tried a variety of human primers to see if we could pick up human 329 00:26:48,310 --> 00:26:52,870 from the material and got a complete blank in several combinations. 330 00:26:53,430 --> 00:26:59,470 Then we thought we should try cow, and that came back for a roaringly strong 331 00:26:59,470 --> 00:27:00,470 signal. 332 00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:03,380 So we're pretty sure it's cow, unfortunately. 333 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:08,640 So how come all these scientists in the past then have been so wrong about it? 334 00:27:09,469 --> 00:27:12,930 Well, I think it was a very difficult bit of diagnosis because it had been 335 00:27:12,930 --> 00:27:16,470 sitting on the door exposed to the elements for some considerable period of 336 00:27:16,470 --> 00:27:17,470 time, so it was quite weathered. 337 00:27:17,730 --> 00:27:21,770 I think also we might be underestimating some of the powers of forgery of some 338 00:27:21,770 --> 00:27:25,670 of these early artisans because what we did notice was the skin was very thin, 339 00:27:25,810 --> 00:27:28,430 much thinner than you normally expect for a cow skin. 340 00:27:28,630 --> 00:27:33,090 So I suspect it was taken from the underbelly or some other area. And it 341 00:27:33,110 --> 00:27:35,170 therefore, a lot more like human skin. 342 00:27:35,730 --> 00:27:38,490 So they might have been disguising it perhaps a little bit. 343 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,140 So perhaps it's just an ancient forgery. 344 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:46,560 But it's one that obviously hit the mark. 345 00:27:47,100 --> 00:27:52,560 Take a piece of cowhide, add imagination, and by the 18th century, 346 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:53,560 gruesome legend. 347 00:27:57,820 --> 00:28:02,080 Although the skin has turned out not to be human, this small story still seems 348 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:06,020 to illustrate a bigger picture of the fear and hatred that must have existed 349 00:28:06,020 --> 00:28:07,660 between the English and the Danes. 350 00:28:08,060 --> 00:28:10,180 And this hatred finally boiled over... 351 00:28:10,490 --> 00:28:13,530 into what can only be described as state -sponsored ethnic cleansing. 352 00:28:19,450 --> 00:28:23,210 Not all the Vikings in England were marauders bent on extortion. 353 00:28:24,670 --> 00:28:27,830 Danish settlers had been living peacefully here for over a hundred 354 00:28:32,110 --> 00:28:36,550 But in 1002, on St. Brice's Day, the 13th of November, 355 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,380 King Æthelred commanded that all Danes living in the country should be killed. 356 00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:49,340 This day was Saturday, on which the Danes are in the habit of bathing, and 357 00:28:49,340 --> 00:28:53,500 accordingly, at the set time, they were destroyed most ruthlessly. 358 00:28:56,900 --> 00:29:03,080 From the least even to the greatest, they spared neither age nor sex. 359 00:29:13,450 --> 00:29:18,170 The massacre on St. Brice's Day provoked the wrath of the Vikings, especially as 360 00:29:18,170 --> 00:29:22,090 one of the victims was said to be the sister of Sven Forkbeard, the Danish 361 00:29:22,970 --> 00:29:26,850 Over the coming years, bitter hatred between the English and the Vikings 362 00:29:26,850 --> 00:29:28,210 continue to intensify. 363 00:29:32,450 --> 00:29:34,710 Soon it was a new generation at the top. 364 00:29:35,010 --> 00:29:39,790 In a tangle of invasion, exile and death, the English and Danish king 365 00:29:39,790 --> 00:29:42,680 and Sven Forkbeard passed on the fighting to their sons. 366 00:29:43,700 --> 00:29:48,000 Edmund Ironside and his young Viking adversary Canute were head to head. 367 00:29:48,700 --> 00:29:53,280 Canute was still a teenager, but he was about to trigger the most dramatic shift 368 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:56,080 in power in the history of Viking influence in these islands. 369 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:05,900 And in 1016, after a summer of skirmishes, a confrontation in Essex 370 00:30:05,900 --> 00:30:06,900 decisive. 371 00:30:07,020 --> 00:30:10,600 At the Battle of Assenden, heavy losses were recorded on the English side. 372 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:12,800 especially amongst the nobles. 373 00:30:15,740 --> 00:30:22,040 There was then killed Bishop Eyednoth, Abbot Wolfseer, Eyelderman Elfrick, 374 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:26,620 Eyelderman Goodwina, Ulf Kettle and Ethelweird. 375 00:30:27,700 --> 00:30:30,420 The flower of all England was cut down. 376 00:30:32,420 --> 00:30:36,720 With such an outcome, the English king was forced to give Canute northern and 377 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:37,720 central England. 378 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:42,990 And then... Only a few months later, Edmund died, maybe from the wounds he'd 379 00:30:42,990 --> 00:30:43,990 suffered on the battlefield. 380 00:30:44,650 --> 00:30:48,350 The rest of the country had little choice but to turn to Canute. 381 00:30:52,250 --> 00:30:55,710 In an ancient ceremony, Canute was crowned king. 382 00:30:59,670 --> 00:31:01,470 The unthinkable had happened. 383 00:31:01,690 --> 00:31:06,490 The invaders had become rulers, and there was a Viking on the throne of 384 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:22,900 But today, people only remember one story about Canute. 385 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:29,020 King Canute tried to stop the tide coming in. The tide? 386 00:31:29,740 --> 00:31:31,180 Trying to send it back? 387 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:35,880 Everyone thought he could do everything, but then he got his frown, he sat 388 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:38,340 beside the sea and he commanded it not to come in, and it did. 389 00:31:38,540 --> 00:31:40,020 So that's why he couldn't do everything. 390 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:42,140 And got his feet rather wet, as I remember. 391 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:46,700 We all know the story, but where did it come from? 392 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:54,080 It's first mentioned in the Historia Anglorum, a 12th century mixture of 393 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:55,420 and moral fables. 394 00:31:56,420 --> 00:32:00,300 This tells us that Canute gave orders for his throne to be placed on the 395 00:32:00,300 --> 00:32:04,940 seashore as the tide was coming in, and that the king commanded the water not to 396 00:32:04,940 --> 00:32:07,020 rise and wet his clothes or feet. 397 00:32:21,770 --> 00:32:24,290 The tide obviously ignored the king's commands. 398 00:32:24,810 --> 00:32:27,910 But what came next in the story isn't often mentioned. 399 00:32:28,550 --> 00:32:33,150 Canute is actually making a point that no matter what his courtiers may think, 400 00:32:33,290 --> 00:32:34,830 he's just a man. 401 00:32:35,550 --> 00:32:39,350 Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings. 402 00:32:40,150 --> 00:32:45,150 For there is none worthy of the name but God, whom heaven and earth and sea 403 00:32:45,150 --> 00:32:46,150 obey. 404 00:32:49,750 --> 00:32:51,250 The full story, then. 405 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:53,220 puts rather a different slant on it. 406 00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:57,560 Perhaps we've had it wrong all these years, and it was really written to show 407 00:32:57,560 --> 00:32:59,420 how pious a Christian Canute was. 408 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:02,400 We've no way of knowing whether this happened. 409 00:33:02,620 --> 00:33:07,020 It may simply be a moral tale, but it's interesting to note how we'd sooner 410 00:33:07,020 --> 00:33:10,420 believe in the arrogance of our kings than in their piety. 411 00:33:22,570 --> 00:33:26,810 Having seized the English crown by force, would Canute be able to hang on 412 00:33:30,230 --> 00:33:34,810 Very little is known about his reign, but there's one priceless manuscript 413 00:33:34,810 --> 00:33:38,250 contains a drawing of Canute that shows how he himself wanted to be seen. 414 00:33:41,390 --> 00:33:45,170 It was made at the time he donated a gold cross to the new minster at 415 00:33:45,170 --> 00:33:46,170 Winchester. 416 00:33:46,650 --> 00:33:51,050 As a Christian king, his power ultimately comes from Christ, seated 417 00:33:51,050 --> 00:33:55,380 him. But the hand on the hilt of his sword suggests a strong ruler who should 418 00:33:55,380 --> 00:33:59,160 not be challenged, and the monks are firmly in their place. 419 00:34:00,820 --> 00:34:03,920 Dr Ken Lawson is a leading authority on Canute. 420 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:06,780 In a sense, it's political propaganda. 421 00:34:07,740 --> 00:34:12,500 And this is important to Canute because he has no real claim to the English 422 00:34:12,500 --> 00:34:17,840 throne. When the church crowns and anoints him, this gives him a legitimacy 423 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:19,980 which he doesn't otherwise have. 424 00:34:22,179 --> 00:34:25,400 Canute Rex, the king, and I presume this is the queen. 425 00:34:25,780 --> 00:34:28,159 That is Canute's queen, Emma. 426 00:34:28,420 --> 00:34:31,060 She'd previously, of course, been queen of King Ethelred. 427 00:34:31,540 --> 00:34:32,940 She came second -hand. 428 00:34:33,260 --> 00:34:39,239 So it was quite an astute move on Canute's part, then, to marry the widow 429 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:40,238 previous king. 430 00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,620 It almost certainly is. I mean, she was probably quite a bit older than he was. 431 00:34:43,820 --> 00:34:49,179 I don't think it was a love match of any kind, because Emma knows the English 432 00:34:49,179 --> 00:34:50,179 political system. 433 00:34:51,670 --> 00:34:56,130 Canute had life on personalities, and in particular on how to treat the church. 434 00:34:58,870 --> 00:35:03,550 The giving of the great gold cross is meant to show his piety and generosity 435 00:35:03,550 --> 00:35:04,550 the church. 436 00:35:04,590 --> 00:35:08,650 But although Canute could be generous to those who were important to him, there 437 00:35:08,650 --> 00:35:10,910 was also a ruthless side to his character. 438 00:35:15,590 --> 00:35:19,590 The shady side of him is partly probably very heavy taxation. 439 00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:26,200 taxation which is enforced by people unable to pay taxes, forfeiting the 440 00:35:26,940 --> 00:35:33,080 And the coercive power behind all that are the professional soldiers known as 441 00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:36,360 houseguards, who may have employed in considerable numbers. 442 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:39,720 It's possible there were garrisons of houseguards in certain cities. 443 00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:44,940 And they are the people who, in the last analysis, will come and persuade you to 444 00:35:44,940 --> 00:35:45,940 do what the king wants. 445 00:35:46,380 --> 00:35:50,280 So these are Canute's heavy mob, are they? Yes, they are probably very heavy. 446 00:35:54,860 --> 00:35:59,200 Such was Canute's ruthlessness that he was able to build a huge North Sea 447 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:00,200 empire. 448 00:36:00,300 --> 00:36:04,340 Three years after he seized the English throne, he succeeded his brother as king 449 00:36:04,340 --> 00:36:05,340 of Denmark. 450 00:36:05,720 --> 00:36:10,380 Then, using money from English taxes, he conquered Norway and then part of 451 00:36:10,380 --> 00:36:11,380 southern Sweden. 452 00:36:11,660 --> 00:36:14,300 Even the Scots accepted him as their overlord. 453 00:36:15,050 --> 00:36:19,050 Knut's empire stretched from the English Channel to the Baltic. 454 00:36:26,370 --> 00:36:30,450 It was the most dramatic rise to power of any Viking ruler in history. 455 00:36:30,990 --> 00:36:35,530 By 1030, a large proportion of the British Isles were under Scandinavian 456 00:36:35,530 --> 00:36:38,550 control, but not all under the Danes. 457 00:36:38,950 --> 00:36:42,950 Earlier, Norwegian Vikings had captured the islands on the sea road from 458 00:36:42,950 --> 00:36:44,210 Shetland to the Irish Sea. 459 00:36:44,730 --> 00:36:48,010 And here, the picture of Viking rule was quite different. 460 00:36:54,550 --> 00:36:58,990 On the Isle of Man, it appears to be a story of integration more than 461 00:36:58,990 --> 00:36:59,990 domination. 462 00:37:02,750 --> 00:37:07,110 A view that's championed by archaeologist Andrew Johnson from Manx 463 00:37:07,110 --> 00:37:08,110 Heritage. 464 00:37:12,300 --> 00:37:18,660 The Viking involvement with the island is not so much one of invasion and of 465 00:37:18,660 --> 00:37:23,960 driving out the local population, seizing the best land, all this kind of 466 00:37:24,060 --> 00:37:28,920 I think instead what you've got is a relatively small number of people coming 467 00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:34,980 and being absorbed by the existing population, but 468 00:37:34,980 --> 00:37:39,780 making a very, very considerable imprint on that population. 469 00:37:42,430 --> 00:37:47,270 Evidence to support this theory came to light in the 1980s during the excavation 470 00:37:47,270 --> 00:37:49,270 of an ancient graveyard under Peel Castle. 471 00:37:50,350 --> 00:37:54,010 Andrew was on site when the team stumbled on an intriguing grave. 472 00:37:56,090 --> 00:38:01,770 In a Christian cemetery, a woman had been buried with grave goods in the 473 00:38:01,770 --> 00:38:02,770 tradition. 474 00:38:05,190 --> 00:38:07,630 The first thing that was apparent were... 475 00:38:08,060 --> 00:38:13,580 her leg bones, and oddly enough, it looked as if perhaps she had a third 476 00:38:13,620 --> 00:38:16,140 and obviously that couldn't possibly be the case. 477 00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:21,400 And the closer we looked at this, we realised that this bar -shaped thing 478 00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:25,280 her right side was actually iron, it was actually a piece of iron. 479 00:38:26,140 --> 00:38:30,720 The object must have been important, but no -one on the team could tell what it 480 00:38:30,720 --> 00:38:33,160 was. It was like nothing they'd seen before. 481 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:36,600 Then there were a few phone calls to various... 482 00:38:36,940 --> 00:38:43,360 archaeologists and the suggestion came back well what if it's a cooking spit 483 00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:50,220 and that's exactly what it turned out to be a 484 00:38:50,220 --> 00:38:53,880 symbol of domestic power part of a wealthy female burial 485 00:38:53,880 --> 00:39:00,700 along with the spit there were other domestic objects 486 00:39:00,700 --> 00:39:05,520 a knife a pair of shears into which was rusted a bone comb 487 00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:11,120 and a necklace of multicoloured beads of glass, jet and amber. 488 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:21,760 These objects suggested that this woman was a Viking, but strangely there was no 489 00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:25,660 sign of the brooches that were a characteristic part of everyday Viking 490 00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:28,820 So who was she? 491 00:39:30,660 --> 00:39:34,080 I think that she was a local Celt. 492 00:39:34,650 --> 00:39:41,550 Someone who was married to one of these new arrivals. And probably this 493 00:39:41,550 --> 00:39:47,670 was an arranged marriage. And this would be a perfect way for a Scandinavian who 494 00:39:47,670 --> 00:39:53,590 didn't want to get into the whole risky business of fighting to take over land, 495 00:39:53,790 --> 00:39:56,710 but sought to gain land through marriage. 496 00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:04,240 So is there any more evidence for intermarriage elsewhere on the island? 497 00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:10,840 Viking runic inscriptions on Christian crosses give the names of people they 498 00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:13,600 commemorated and those who have them made. 499 00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:24,780 This one declares that it was raised by Torleif Snargi to the memory of his son 500 00:40:24,780 --> 00:40:30,380 Fiak. Now, this is fascinating, because Torleif Snargi is a Viking name. 501 00:40:30,860 --> 00:40:32,800 But his son's name is Celtic. 502 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:38,240 The most likely explanation is that Fiat's mother was a Celt, who, despite 503 00:40:38,240 --> 00:40:41,660 married to a Viking, had chosen to name her son in her own language. 504 00:40:42,300 --> 00:40:46,380 This seems like more evidence of intermarriage, of the mingling of two 505 00:40:46,380 --> 00:40:47,380 distinct cultures. 506 00:40:50,700 --> 00:40:57,700 And the 507 00:40:57,700 --> 00:41:02,090 result of this integrated society... is the extraordinary survival of a remnant 508 00:41:02,090 --> 00:41:03,090 of Viking rule, 509 00:41:03,770 --> 00:41:04,770 Tinwald's Day. 510 00:41:05,330 --> 00:41:09,790 Each year, the island's parliament meets on this grassy mound to conduct its 511 00:41:09,790 --> 00:41:14,770 business, open to all, almost exactly as they did a thousand years ago. 512 00:41:15,630 --> 00:41:22,510 Learned Deansters, I exhort you to proclaim to the people, in ancient form, 513 00:41:22,770 --> 00:41:28,970 such laws as have been enacted during the past year, and which have 514 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:31,840 Her Gracious Majesty's Royal Assent. 515 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:38,880 Electronic Transactions Act, which facilitates electronic transactions. 516 00:41:39,840 --> 00:41:43,980 The origins of the artisanal ceremony certainly go back well into our Viking 517 00:41:43,980 --> 00:41:47,920 period, but they established a form of government here on the island and 518 00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:50,560 promulgated, read out, the laws which they... 519 00:41:50,910 --> 00:41:53,890 We're suggesting that the public of the Isle of Man should live on there 520 00:41:53,890 --> 00:41:58,690 annually. And that is really a tradition which we today, centuries later, have 521 00:41:58,690 --> 00:41:59,690 been carrying out. 522 00:42:05,190 --> 00:42:08,210 The Viking rulers have handed down their political traditions. 523 00:42:08,650 --> 00:42:11,950 But has their genetic legacy also been handed down? 524 00:42:12,470 --> 00:42:16,410 What proportion of today's manxmen are direct descendants of the Vikings? 525 00:42:17,260 --> 00:42:21,760 The answer may be revealed by the genetic survey of the British Isles, 526 00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:24,560 carried out by the BBC and University College London. 527 00:42:37,080 --> 00:42:41,700 They're sampling males because it's the Y chromosome, which only males have, 528 00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:44,100 that will clearly show Norwegian genetic markers. 529 00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:45,900 Back in the lab. 530 00:42:46,250 --> 00:42:48,330 Analysis of the samples is just beginning. 531 00:42:49,770 --> 00:42:54,970 When we carry out just the first preliminary analysis, we see that about 532 00:42:54,970 --> 00:42:59,010 the chromosomes in the Isle of Man are only found in Norway, so it looks like 533 00:42:59,010 --> 00:43:00,830 those have a Norwegian origin. 534 00:43:01,790 --> 00:43:06,370 So there are indications of a strong Viking presence here, confirming the 535 00:43:06,370 --> 00:43:07,490 evidence from archaeology. 536 00:43:09,100 --> 00:43:15,320 The genetics does indicate that there's Viking genetic input and that could be 537 00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:19,620 precisely through the kind of intermarriages that are documented in 538 00:43:19,620 --> 00:43:22,420 archaeological record with Viking men joining the society. 539 00:43:24,680 --> 00:43:31,140 The enduring nature of Viking rule in the Isle of Man 540 00:43:31,140 --> 00:43:35,040 contrasts sharply with the short -lived experience of Viking rule in England, 541 00:43:35,220 --> 00:43:36,820 where it would last... 542 00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:38,460 for only 26 years. 543 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:44,000 King Canute died in 1035. 544 00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:49,280 His sons were unable to hold on to their father's gains for long, and within 545 00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:53,660 seven years, the impressive North Sea Empire that he'd built had collapsed. 546 00:43:55,260 --> 00:44:01,140 Canute had been king of all England, and he was buried like one, alongside the 547 00:44:01,140 --> 00:44:03,400 Saxon kings in Winchester's ancient Minster. 548 00:44:04,240 --> 00:44:06,320 But he wasn't allowed to rest in peace. 549 00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:11,320 When this new cathedral was built, his bones were moved, along with those of 550 00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:14,020 other kings and bishops, into wooden caskets. 551 00:44:14,860 --> 00:44:17,820 And here, there's an ignominious postscript. 552 00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:22,900 Centuries later, they became the target of roundhead aggression during the 553 00:44:22,900 --> 00:44:23,900 English Civil War. 554 00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:32,540 Cromwell's troops effectively looted the cathedral. 555 00:44:33,140 --> 00:44:36,120 They rode up the aisle, some of them on horseback. 556 00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:40,620 running more or less amok. When they got here, of course, looking up to right 557 00:44:40,620 --> 00:44:44,540 and left, what did they see? These boxes with crowns on the top. Well, you can 558 00:44:44,540 --> 00:44:49,080 imagine, a symbol of royal authority. It was precisely the sort of thing that 559 00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:50,180 they had it in for. 560 00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:57,060 So they pulled down the boxes from on top, smashed out came the contents, and 561 00:44:57,060 --> 00:45:00,920 then they picked up the bones and used the bones as missiles with which to 562 00:45:00,920 --> 00:45:04,920 the windows, which had idolatrous biblical imagery on them. 563 00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:13,280 The surviving bones were later replaced in the chest, but they'd been jumbled 564 00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:14,280 up. 565 00:45:14,860 --> 00:45:17,260 So where exactly are Knut's remains? 566 00:45:18,420 --> 00:45:20,880 Is it possible to have a look in the chests? 567 00:45:21,520 --> 00:45:26,540 Well, the current feeling is that one should leave these human remains to lie 568 00:45:26,540 --> 00:45:33,060 peace, so the simple answer to that is no, but I was allowed to check the 569 00:45:33,060 --> 00:45:37,270 conservation state of the remains about... Ten years ago, I suppose it 570 00:45:37,270 --> 00:45:39,530 also to take some photographs, which I've got here. 571 00:45:40,310 --> 00:45:44,690 So this is the chest that we've been looking at on the side there. 572 00:45:44,970 --> 00:45:48,830 I mean, what this looks like is just a collection of long bones, a few bits of 573 00:45:48,830 --> 00:45:52,150 pelvis and some arm bones. There's no complete skeletons in there, are there? 574 00:45:52,210 --> 00:45:56,010 Exactly so, and what seems to have happened is that during one of the re 575 00:45:56,010 --> 00:46:00,310 -sortings, they sorted out these bones osteologically and decided they ought to 576 00:46:00,310 --> 00:46:02,310 put the long bones into these two new chests. 577 00:46:02,670 --> 00:46:06,760 The result, then, is that some of the other chests, For example, one which 578 00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:11,200 bears the name of one monarch, and yet, as you can see, we've got five skulls in 579 00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:13,140 there. So, a complete jumble. 580 00:46:13,660 --> 00:46:17,600 But Canute is somewhere in amongst one of these chests, you think? 581 00:46:18,460 --> 00:46:22,540 I don't think there's any reason to suppose that Canute's bones aren't 582 00:46:22,540 --> 00:46:24,100 amongst this lot, even jumbled up. 583 00:46:31,100 --> 00:46:35,260 finished when the Anglo -Saxon dynasty was restored almost three decades after 584 00:46:35,260 --> 00:46:36,260 it had been overthrown. 585 00:46:38,780 --> 00:46:43,120 In 1042, Edward the Confessor took back the English throne. 586 00:46:49,220 --> 00:46:53,640 It so happened that Denmark was too busy fighting Norway to launch any more 587 00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:55,100 contenders for the English throne. 588 00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:59,760 And so it looked as if the Viking Age in England had finally come to an end. 589 00:47:00,750 --> 00:47:04,670 But the death of Edward the Confessor meant that the crown was once again up 590 00:47:04,670 --> 00:47:07,850 grabs. And this time, the Norwegians were ready. 591 00:47:08,550 --> 00:47:14,430 The extraordinary tale of what really happened in 1066 is in the next and 592 00:47:14,430 --> 00:47:16,310 episode of Blood of the Vikings.