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Almost 1,000 years ago,
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a man assembled an armada
of 15,000 warriors.
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He had made Normandy a rich, powerful land,
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but hatred was at his door.
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Mocked, detested and envied,
his burning ambition led him
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to formulate a wild, yet
meticulously planned scheme
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to invade England and become king.
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For this, he would go down in history
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as William the Conqueror.
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What remains of his story?
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Largely erased, forgotten
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and left in ruins, traces do remain.
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Thus the line between one man's dream
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and historic reality becomes blurred.
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It could be a bit higher,
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but it's not bad.
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Yes, the neck was totally bare.
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We can see their shaven necks
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on the Bayeux Tapestry.
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It probably helped when wearing the helmet,
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or the headgear that went underneath.
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Our story begins with a little riddle.
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The exact date of William's birth
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has never been known.
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But it is commonly accepted
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that he was born around 1027.
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What we know for certain
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is that he was raised
in Falaise in Normandy,
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in the castle of his father,
Robert the Magnificent.
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As the Duke of Normandy,
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his father had influence.
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His mother Arlette however
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was a local girl with no noble blood.
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William was therefore considered a bastard.
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What was going on at
this grandious ceremony?
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What was Robert the Magnificent's plan?
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Before setting off on a pilgrimage,
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Robert the Magnificent,
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the duke who ruled Normandy
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from 1030 to 1035, officially enthroned
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little William when he was only seven.
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He inherited a duchy
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with theoretically the
recognition of nobles.
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But they did not uphold their commitment.
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Upon the death of Robert the Magnificent,
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the Normans contested young
William for two reasons.
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Firstly, because he was a bastard.
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It wasn't as fashionable
as in the previous century,
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when practically all the Dukes of Normandy
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were of illegitimate birth.
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Secondly, because he was a child
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and certain ambitious uncles of William
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were staking their claim to power.
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At one point, around 1045,
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they tried to assassinate him in Valognes.
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Luckily a jester in Valognes,
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a close friend of William called Gaul,
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overheard the would be assassins
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and their accomplices plotting.
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He went straight to wake
the Duke in his bed,
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and ordered him to leave
as quickly as possible.
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Taking only a cloak and jump on his horse
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or be murdered in a matter of minutes.
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William fled and rode all
night towards Falaise.
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He must have crossed the ford
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of the Bois des Fays, which
was extremely dangerous.
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He must have crossed the Besson,
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avoiding the towns where
accomplices may be waiting.
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He also crossed the forest of Boisville.
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This flight helped forge the myth
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of William as young, brave and headstrong.
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A bastard and a loner,
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capable of riding 150 kilometers
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with killers at his heels.
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Texts of the time transform this event
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into legend, but struggle
to authenticate the details.
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Was William's horse spooked?
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Perhaps William was unseated.
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What if there never was a river to cross?
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What can historians say with certainty?
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In fact, just what do
we know about William?
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It was all so long ago.
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What was he really like?
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We obviously have portraits
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of William from the 14th,
15th and 19th centuries.
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Even statues like the one in Falaise.
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And this is a more or less romantic vision
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of the character, not based
on anything historical.
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William never doubted his own legitimacy.
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Most of the Dukes of Normandy
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came from illegitimate marriages.
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Consequently, he was totally in line
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with his ancestors and considered
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that those who challenged
his legitimacy were rebels.
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And that it was his duty
to punish them for that.
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William took refuge in Falaise,
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and there aged 18 took his
first political initiative.
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He called upon his sovereign,
the king of France,
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and with his help was able
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to bring down the accomplices
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who wanted to take his power,
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that was the Battle of Val-es-Dunes.
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William and the king
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faced between one and 2,000 warriors
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commanded by the rebel barons
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with the bewitching names,
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Ranulph de Briquessart,
Grimoald du Plessis,
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and Hamon le Dentu.
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Historians consider
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that it was a great battle
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and a chance for William
to prove his worth.
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They even say that the
fighting was so terrible,
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and the massacre on such a scale
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that the river Orne ran red with blood.
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William settled in Caen,
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where he built his castle
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making the town the
capital of lower Normandy.
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It's hard to pick one's way
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through this warren of ruins today.
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What here dates back to William?
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The ramparts, the ditches, the keep,
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the artillery turrets are just a succession
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of changes wrought through the centuries.
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Yet on the ground there are traces
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that give us a clue
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as to what the castle and the town
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might have been like around the year 1000.
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Perhaps a castle, peace, wealth,
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all that was missing
from the perfect picture
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was a wife.
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William and Matilda
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formed a couple unlike most others
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in the Middle Ages.
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All their lives, they were
faithful to one another,
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and William had no known
mistress, nor bastard.
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He chose Matilda, daughter
of the Count of Flanders,
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one of the most powerful
figures of the time.
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Matilda was a descendant
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of the kings of France, the Carolingians,
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so the bastard was marrying
into the highest royal line.
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News of the marriage was heard in Rome,
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where Pope Leo IX did
not accept it for reasons
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of fifth degree consanguinity
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between William and Matilda.
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He therefore banned the marriage.
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But that did not stop William
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from marrying Matilda,
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either in 1050 or in 1051,
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in Eure on the edge of
the duchy of Normandy.
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William was a builder.
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He and Matilda built the men's abbey
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and the woman's abbey in Caen.
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Acts of allegiance that must have
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gone down well in Rome
with Pope Nicholas II,
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with whom William had made his peace.
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Could we imagine that
William's story ends here?
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Good husband and father,
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pious Christian, occasional builder,
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could William have become
a provincial nobleman?
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No.
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No, there was no room for routine.
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The surprise, when it
came, came from England.
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Edward the Confessor took the throne
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after a 28 year exile in Normandy.
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He had no heir and so he chose William
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to succeed him.
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Thus he overlooked
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his English brother-in-law Harold.
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In 1064, Harold set sail
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to come and meet William.
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And when he landed on the Ponthieu coast
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to the north of Normandy,
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he was taken prisoner
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and William ordered his release.
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It was at that time in fact,
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that the Bayeux Tapestry was begun.
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A treasure of humanity,
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a treasure trove for any historian.
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A work of propaganda,
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as well as a powerful testimony
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of the manners of the time.
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The Bayeux Tapestry also told
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of what was to come,
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of the upheaval in William's life,
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and far more besides.
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We know the Bayeux Tapestry
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was exhibited in early July
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every year for the Feast of Relics
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in Bayeux Cathedral.
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It was laid out in the nave,
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so as to be completely
visible to the public
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who came to the cathedral.
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The crowd jostles to relive
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the adventures of William and Harold.
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Here they are setting off to wage war
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together in Brittany.
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It seems that a friendship grew
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between the two men,
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but William was wary of Harold's ambition
200
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and asked him to swear on the relics
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to promise to back his claim
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to the throne of England.
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This oath was probably sworn
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in the crypt of Bayeux Cathedral.
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One thousand years on
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the crypt is still there, identical
207
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aside from paintings that an untrained eye
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might think were of that period.
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But which were actually
added 400 years later.
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The text of the oath was authenticated,
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transcribed according to the testimonies
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of several who took part in the ceremony.
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By this oath, I Harold
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will be the representative of Duke William
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at the court of my lord, King Edward,
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as long as he shall live.
217
00:13:12,066 --> 00:13:14,679
I shall do all in my power
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so that after Edward's death
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the kingdom of England be handed to him.
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Back in London, Harold soon witnessed
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the last moments of Edward the Confessor.
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Who, on his deathbed, entrusted
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the kingdom of England to Harold.
224
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He was a weak king
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who had promised his
throne to several figures.
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So much so, that several figures
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00:14:02,798 --> 00:14:04,654
might feel legitimate.
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00:14:14,399 --> 00:14:15,979
We have reason to think that
229
00:14:15,999 --> 00:14:18,741
at the last moment, the
moment of his death,
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00:14:18,761 --> 00:14:21,972
he designated Harold as his successor,
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as the tapestry shows.
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00:14:27,989 --> 00:14:30,497
Edward died on January 5th,
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00:14:30,517 --> 00:14:31,820
and the very next day Harold
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00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:35,268
had himself crowned king.
235
00:14:46,226 --> 00:14:49,043
The news traveled very fast in England,
236
00:14:49,063 --> 00:14:51,155
and immediately went to Normandy,
237
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thanks to the great number
of spies on English soil.
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00:14:55,326 --> 00:14:57,726
So William was quickly informed.
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00:15:41,212 --> 00:15:42,474
One can ask whether Harold
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really did go back on his word.
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00:15:45,395 --> 00:15:49,709
Some dispute it, but it
does merit discussion.
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There are in fact
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quite a few sources on the subject
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00:15:53,011 --> 00:15:55,359
from the quills of medieval authors.
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00:15:55,379 --> 00:15:58,079
Penned in a scriptoria of monasteries,
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00:15:58,099 --> 00:16:01,549
among them William of
Poitiers, William of Jumieges
247
00:16:01,569 --> 00:16:04,895
and the Anglo-Norman monk Orderic Vitalis.
248
00:16:08,616 --> 00:16:11,750
And we have another version,
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that of Wace, a Norman author
250
00:16:14,323 --> 00:16:17,972
who wrote the "Roman de Rou."
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00:16:20,975 --> 00:16:22,352
Wace's account was written
252
00:16:22,372 --> 00:16:25,947
a century after the events.
253
00:16:25,967 --> 00:16:29,716
But he relied on the
testimony of his father,
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00:16:29,736 --> 00:16:33,050
who was present at the Battle of Hastings,
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00:16:33,070 --> 00:16:35,654
and gives us information that we don't get
256
00:16:35,674 --> 00:16:38,760
from other sources.
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The duke was delighted.
258
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He was happy with the flag
259
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and the permission given him by the pope.
260
00:17:05,420 --> 00:17:08,322
He sent for blacksmiths and carpenters.
261
00:17:08,342 --> 00:17:10,414
Building materials were hauled in.
262
00:17:10,434 --> 00:17:12,344
Wood brought, dowels were shaped,
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planks were planed,
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boats and ships were fitted out.
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Sails were set, masts were mounted.
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00:17:18,912 --> 00:17:20,237
A lot of bodies were busied,
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lots of money spent.
268
00:17:22,507 --> 00:17:24,066
It took the whole summer and harvest time
269
00:17:24,086 --> 00:17:26,410
to fit out the fleet and raise the troops.
270
00:17:41,949 --> 00:17:43,432
In the second half of April,
271
00:17:43,452 --> 00:17:45,405
and exceptional event happened
272
00:17:45,425 --> 00:17:48,087
in the western sky.
273
00:18:16,827 --> 00:18:19,548
We now know it was Halley's Comet.
274
00:18:19,568 --> 00:18:22,609
It shone in the sky for a fortnight,
275
00:18:22,629 --> 00:18:24,369
to the people of the time
276
00:18:24,389 --> 00:18:26,481
it foretold of a calamity,
277
00:18:26,501 --> 00:18:30,122
a shift in the destiny of kingdoms.
278
00:18:36,090 --> 00:18:37,468
The presence of Taillefer,
279
00:18:37,488 --> 00:18:38,674
a rather excitable character,
280
00:18:38,694 --> 00:18:40,810
endlessly shouting "The Song of Roland,"
281
00:18:40,830 --> 00:18:44,633
was recorded by Wace the Norman historian.
282
00:18:47,446 --> 00:18:48,897
Taillefer, who sang so well,
283
00:18:48,917 --> 00:18:50,102
preceded the duke
284
00:18:50,122 --> 00:18:52,279
singing of the exploits of Charlemagne,
285
00:18:52,299 --> 00:18:55,919
Roland and his vassals
who died at Mount Savoy.
286
00:19:04,332 --> 00:19:05,357
Still playing at war,
287
00:19:05,377 --> 00:19:07,149
but not yet with any conviction,
288
00:19:07,169 --> 00:19:09,101
William moved his pawns further north
289
00:19:09,121 --> 00:19:11,306
to Saint Valery in the Baie de la Somme
290
00:19:11,326 --> 00:19:14,232
still waiting for a favorable wind.
291
00:19:54,902 --> 00:19:56,022
William stayed two weeks
292
00:19:56,042 --> 00:19:58,251
in the Baie de la Somme,
293
00:19:58,271 --> 00:19:59,916
and waited for a favorable blowing
294
00:19:59,936 --> 00:20:02,831
from the English side.
295
00:20:09,503 --> 00:20:11,296
On the morning of September 28th,
296
00:20:11,316 --> 00:20:15,300
the wind turned and
allowed William to embark.
297
00:20:34,227 --> 00:20:34,889
For a historian
298
00:20:34,909 --> 00:20:35,840
who has dedicated his life
299
00:20:35,860 --> 00:20:37,577
to the saga of William,
300
00:20:37,597 --> 00:20:38,643
the crossing of the channel
301
00:20:38,663 --> 00:20:39,945
by the Norman armada
302
00:20:39,965 --> 00:20:42,153
remains a moment to be endlessly pondered
303
00:20:42,173 --> 00:20:44,008
and reimagined.
304
00:21:29,545 --> 00:21:31,122
Pull.
305
00:21:31,142 --> 00:21:32,273
Pull.
306
00:21:32,293 --> 00:21:33,927
Pull.
307
00:21:33,947 --> 00:21:36,426
Pull.
308
00:21:55,407 --> 00:21:58,363
Nobody expected the Norman landing.
309
00:21:58,383 --> 00:22:02,804
That was part of William's plan.
310
00:22:03,279 --> 00:22:05,446
He knew that Harold had
sent all his troops north
311
00:22:05,466 --> 00:22:07,483
to face the Norwegians.
312
00:22:07,503 --> 00:22:10,501
And at Stamford Bridge, on September 25th,
313
00:22:10,521 --> 00:22:12,571
there was a terrible battle
314
00:22:12,591 --> 00:22:16,198
where virtually all the
Norwegians were slaughtered.
315
00:22:18,985 --> 00:22:20,292
William took advantage
316
00:22:20,312 --> 00:22:22,704
of this absence of troops in the south
317
00:22:22,724 --> 00:22:25,810
to land unhindered.
318
00:22:31,555 --> 00:22:35,390
He landed on Pevensey Beach.
319
00:22:37,059 --> 00:22:41,338
The next day, the infantry
set off across the fields,
320
00:22:41,358 --> 00:22:43,588
while William's fleet
made for a little harbor
321
00:22:43,608 --> 00:22:47,293
at the foot of Hastings cliffs.
322
00:22:51,161 --> 00:22:52,804
From that point on,
323
00:22:52,824 --> 00:22:54,319
the little village of Hastings
324
00:22:54,339 --> 00:22:56,175
has owed its universal renown
325
00:22:56,195 --> 00:22:59,719
through the ages to William.
326
00:23:06,178 --> 00:23:08,409
On the English side, the men with long hair
327
00:23:08,429 --> 00:23:11,868
gathered by the famous gray apple tree.
328
00:23:14,999 --> 00:23:17,187
Tired, but galvanized by their victory
329
00:23:17,207 --> 00:23:18,648
against the Norwegians,
330
00:23:18,668 --> 00:23:22,779
they readied themselves
to take up arms yet again.
331
00:23:25,274 --> 00:23:27,504
The army of King Harold was akin
332
00:23:27,524 --> 00:23:29,360
to what we normally considered to be
333
00:23:29,380 --> 00:23:31,582
the feudal army.
334
00:23:31,705 --> 00:23:33,328
There were two main parts to it,
335
00:23:33,348 --> 00:23:36,069
one were his own household,
336
00:23:36,089 --> 00:23:38,597
which was essentially the
aristocracy of England
337
00:23:38,617 --> 00:23:40,625
who held their land on the basis
338
00:23:40,645 --> 00:23:42,951
of military service and personal loyalty
339
00:23:42,971 --> 00:23:44,252
to King Harold,
340
00:23:44,272 --> 00:23:48,449
and they are usually called
the Housecarls of the king.
341
00:23:48,552 --> 00:23:50,387
But crucially in battle they didn't fight
342
00:23:50,407 --> 00:23:53,545
on horseback like calvary
normally would fight.
343
00:23:53,565 --> 00:23:55,636
They dismounted and
they fought with a sword
344
00:23:55,656 --> 00:23:58,601
and the axe, like the Norman infantry.
345
00:23:58,621 --> 00:24:00,692
Alongside the Housecarls, there was the
346
00:24:00,712 --> 00:24:03,356
Anglo-Saxon word fyrd.
347
00:24:03,376 --> 00:24:05,147
In other words, the feudal levies
348
00:24:05,167 --> 00:24:07,548
when the words are linked,
349
00:24:07,568 --> 00:24:10,800
who were the normal
country people of England,
350
00:24:10,820 --> 00:24:12,999
who owed their own tenure
351
00:24:13,019 --> 00:24:15,739
to their lords who owed
their tenure to the king.
352
00:24:15,759 --> 00:24:17,532
They had the duty of turning out
353
00:24:17,552 --> 00:24:20,081
for so many months, or
so many weeks every year
354
00:24:20,101 --> 00:24:21,890
to fight for the king.
355
00:24:21,910 --> 00:24:23,517
Now one of the problems with Harold's army
356
00:24:23,537 --> 00:24:26,045
as indeed with feudal armies later on,
357
00:24:26,065 --> 00:24:28,604
is that that right only
lasted for six weeks
358
00:24:28,624 --> 00:24:29,927
or two months.
359
00:24:29,947 --> 00:24:32,302
So there's a point at
which the fyrd was called,
360
00:24:32,322 --> 00:24:34,158
was assembled, was ready to fight
361
00:24:34,178 --> 00:24:36,761
and after so many months
they went home again.
362
00:24:36,781 --> 00:24:39,537
So Harold had some limitations there.
363
00:24:40,034 --> 00:24:43,235
It's probable that if Harold had waited
364
00:24:43,255 --> 00:24:46,851
two, three, four days,
and no more than that
365
00:24:46,871 --> 00:24:49,198
to assemble a force that
was significantly bigger
366
00:24:49,218 --> 00:24:51,332
and significantly better rested,
367
00:24:51,352 --> 00:24:53,997
than the force he actually
fielded at Hastings,
368
00:24:54,017 --> 00:24:57,858
then he might have triumphed
369
00:24:57,878 --> 00:25:00,290
and English history would
look rather different.
370
00:25:05,559 --> 00:25:07,277
The English were shrewdly encamped
371
00:25:07,297 --> 00:25:08,971
at the top of the hill,
372
00:25:08,991 --> 00:25:13,145
which overlooked the
plain by some 40 meters.
373
00:25:15,028 --> 00:25:16,864
And William had naturally camped
374
00:25:16,884 --> 00:25:20,429
at the foot of this hill
to be able to manuver.
375
00:26:35,205 --> 00:26:36,966
The battle began at nine in the morning
376
00:26:36,986 --> 00:26:39,857
as William de Poitiers tells us.
377
00:26:42,764 --> 00:26:45,730
The Normans first deployed their archers.
378
00:26:47,290 --> 00:26:50,714
They sent them in as close as possible,
379
00:26:50,734 --> 00:26:53,434
but hardly were they
within an arrow's range,
380
00:26:53,454 --> 00:26:56,882
around 40 to 50 meters,
381
00:26:58,669 --> 00:27:01,945
then spears rained down
on them from the hill
382
00:27:01,965 --> 00:27:04,979
killing a good many men.
383
00:27:06,170 --> 00:27:08,005
William saw then he would obtain nothing
384
00:27:08,025 --> 00:27:09,126
with his archers,
385
00:27:09,146 --> 00:27:12,158
and sent in his infantrymen.
386
00:27:12,952 --> 00:27:14,138
The battlefield sheds light
387
00:27:14,158 --> 00:27:16,050
on the customs of the time.
388
00:27:16,070 --> 00:27:17,906
We find that William's half brother Odo,
389
00:27:17,926 --> 00:27:20,839
swapped his cassock for a chain mail suit.
390
00:27:20,859 --> 00:27:23,526
As a bishop he didn't have
the right to shed blood,
391
00:27:23,546 --> 00:27:25,061
so his sword was forbidden.
392
00:27:25,081 --> 00:27:27,786
But a club was tolerated.
393
00:28:23,024 --> 00:28:25,094
For around one and half to two hours,
394
00:28:25,114 --> 00:28:28,092
William had both his infantry and calvary
395
00:28:28,112 --> 00:28:30,239
attack the hill.
396
00:28:31,781 --> 00:28:33,478
But they couldn't gain a foothold,
397
00:28:33,498 --> 00:28:35,175
as they were hindered by the hail of spears
398
00:28:35,195 --> 00:28:36,912
and chaffs of all kinds,
399
00:28:36,932 --> 00:28:39,550
hurled by the English.
400
00:28:43,919 --> 00:28:47,388
William de Poitiers, William
the Conqueror's biographer,
401
00:28:47,408 --> 00:28:50,195
said the cloud of projectiles was so dense
402
00:28:50,215 --> 00:28:52,992
it blocked out the sun's rays.
403
00:28:53,531 --> 00:28:56,157
Perhaps an exaggeration
for the sake of the epic,
404
00:28:56,177 --> 00:28:57,575
but it shows that the English were able
405
00:28:57,595 --> 00:28:59,943
to keep the Normans at bay.
406
00:28:59,963 --> 00:29:03,306
And that's what they did for
the first couple of hours.
407
00:29:06,587 --> 00:29:08,745
What happened next was an incident stemming
408
00:29:08,765 --> 00:29:10,892
from a bold manuever that the Breton's
409
00:29:10,912 --> 00:29:14,208
were charged with performing.
410
00:29:18,445 --> 00:29:20,385
They advanced as close as possible
411
00:29:20,405 --> 00:29:23,002
to the English flank,
412
00:29:23,979 --> 00:29:25,911
and at a given moment
413
00:29:25,931 --> 00:29:29,711
they provoked what is
known as a feigned flight.
414
00:29:31,082 --> 00:29:32,385
It was a ruse.
415
00:29:32,405 --> 00:29:36,294
William's soldiers appeared to turn back,
416
00:29:36,314 --> 00:29:39,142
to retreat from the shield wall
417
00:29:39,162 --> 00:29:41,143
of the Anglo-Saxon Housecarls,
418
00:29:41,163 --> 00:29:43,747
which hitherto had been impregnable.
419
00:29:43,767 --> 00:29:46,669
So the pretense on the part of the Normans
420
00:29:46,689 --> 00:29:50,460
to give up, to retreat, to runaway
421
00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:53,742
tested the discipline
of the Anglo-Saxon army
422
00:29:53,762 --> 00:29:55,246
to breaking point.
423
00:29:55,266 --> 00:29:57,728
And there was a moment
when they broke their wall,
424
00:29:57,748 --> 00:29:59,819
they ran down the hill
425
00:29:59,839 --> 00:30:01,238
and of course by doing that
426
00:30:01,258 --> 00:30:04,214
they exposed themselves to attack
427
00:30:04,234 --> 00:30:06,997
by men on horses armed with lances,
428
00:30:07,017 --> 00:30:09,392
and were extremely vulnerable.
429
00:30:10,348 --> 00:30:13,091
William, who had advanced on his horse
430
00:30:13,111 --> 00:30:16,568
to direct the highly delicate
feigned flight manuever,
431
00:30:19,558 --> 00:30:22,107
was held up because his horse was killed
432
00:30:22,127 --> 00:30:24,745
by an English spear.
433
00:30:26,467 --> 00:30:28,186
The horse collapsed and rolled on top
434
00:30:28,206 --> 00:30:31,176
of William the Conqueror.
435
00:30:33,571 --> 00:30:34,939
William's fall became one
436
00:30:34,959 --> 00:30:38,287
of the great dramatic moments
of the Battle of Hastings.
437
00:30:38,307 --> 00:30:40,100
As a knight, it's something you'd be keen
438
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:42,265
to tell your beloved when you were reunited
439
00:30:42,285 --> 00:30:44,123
after the fighting.
440
00:30:44,143 --> 00:30:47,550
Here William becomes his own historian.
441
00:31:13,002 --> 00:31:14,892
It was as if nothing else existed
442
00:31:14,912 --> 00:31:16,609
but the epic of a hero,
443
00:31:16,629 --> 00:31:19,337
whom fate has pitched
alone against the world.
444
00:31:56,044 --> 00:31:58,926
And probably a new phase began then.
445
00:31:58,946 --> 00:32:01,432
Identical to the first, that is,
446
00:32:01,452 --> 00:32:04,152
that William relaunched his archers,
447
00:32:04,172 --> 00:32:07,675
his infantry and his cavalry.
448
00:32:08,705 --> 00:32:10,658
And we can say that from one or two o'clock
449
00:32:10,678 --> 00:32:12,813
until three in the afternoon,
450
00:32:12,833 --> 00:32:15,845
William met with the same failure.
451
00:32:25,524 --> 00:32:27,885
They needed to clear the battlefield,
452
00:32:27,905 --> 00:32:31,267
to take away the corpses, the dead horses,
453
00:32:31,287 --> 00:32:32,878
the wounded.
454
00:32:32,898 --> 00:32:36,770
To restock with weapons, spears, arrows
455
00:32:36,790 --> 00:32:38,819
and all kinds of lances.
456
00:32:38,839 --> 00:32:41,144
They also had to regroup a certain number
457
00:32:41,164 --> 00:32:45,126
of forces to enable them
to mount another attack.
458
00:32:46,017 --> 00:32:48,407
One of the problems with Harold's army
459
00:32:48,427 --> 00:32:50,797
was the lack of archers.
460
00:32:50,817 --> 00:32:52,514
And it's very difficult to explain that
461
00:32:52,534 --> 00:32:55,863
because archery was a
perfectly common thing
462
00:32:55,883 --> 00:32:58,018
in England just as it was in Normandy.
463
00:32:58,038 --> 00:33:02,636
And one of the, not strategic
but tactical advantages
464
00:33:02,656 --> 00:33:04,567
William had, as we all know,
465
00:33:04,587 --> 00:33:07,372
was the large company of archers
466
00:33:07,392 --> 00:33:08,258
he brought with him,
467
00:33:08,278 --> 00:33:10,001
and the effect they had on the battle.
468
00:33:11,419 --> 00:33:12,136
If we look carefully
469
00:33:12,156 --> 00:33:14,439
at the Bayeux Tapestry, we see that there's
470
00:33:14,459 --> 00:33:18,462
a character called Harold
who gets an arrow in the eye.
471
00:33:18,482 --> 00:33:21,011
And just next to him,
is a knight amputating
472
00:33:21,031 --> 00:33:23,864
another character's leg.
473
00:33:24,189 --> 00:33:27,478
That's a second representation of Harold.
474
00:33:34,459 --> 00:33:36,391
And once the king was dead,
475
00:33:36,411 --> 00:33:39,485
the idea of the state
in Anglo-Saxon England
476
00:33:39,505 --> 00:33:43,175
was not strong enough to hold
this mass of people together.
477
00:33:43,195 --> 00:33:44,637
So with the death of the king,
478
00:33:44,657 --> 00:33:48,700
all loyalty to a common cause breaks apart
479
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:49,788
and disintegrates.
480
00:33:49,808 --> 00:33:52,295
And at that point, the
dispersal of the English army
481
00:33:52,315 --> 00:33:53,692
is inevitable.
482
00:33:53,712 --> 00:33:55,452
There's no one there to hold them together.
483
00:33:55,472 --> 00:33:57,873
The king and his two brothers
have both been killed,
484
00:33:57,893 --> 00:34:01,555
and the Normans rule the field.
485
00:34:03,315 --> 00:34:04,809
It is hard to evaluate losses
486
00:34:04,829 --> 00:34:07,234
on either side.
487
00:34:07,698 --> 00:34:10,164
We know both sides suffered severe losses,
488
00:34:10,184 --> 00:34:13,695
probably around 3,000
dead on the English side,
489
00:34:13,715 --> 00:34:18,615
2,000 dead among the
Normans, Bretons and French.
490
00:34:22,221 --> 00:34:24,643
So it was probably a very hard battle,
491
00:34:24,663 --> 00:34:26,062
which lasted from nine in the morning
492
00:34:26,082 --> 00:34:28,721
until six in the evening.
493
00:34:31,052 --> 00:34:32,142
It was one of the great battles
494
00:34:32,162 --> 00:34:34,275
of the Middle Ages, which obviously changed
495
00:34:34,295 --> 00:34:36,774
the fate of England.
496
00:34:39,875 --> 00:34:41,786
From that moment on,
497
00:34:41,806 --> 00:34:44,412
instead of hurrying towards London,
498
00:34:45,542 --> 00:34:48,636
William made an encircling manuever.
499
00:34:48,656 --> 00:34:50,663
Continuing his butchery and setting fires
500
00:34:50,683 --> 00:34:53,856
to terrorize the population.
501
00:34:54,395 --> 00:34:58,122
And what he expected to happen happened.
502
00:34:58,950 --> 00:35:01,297
The aristocrats and the
inhabitants of London
503
00:35:01,317 --> 00:35:05,279
came out to surrender when
William approached the city.
504
00:35:07,023 --> 00:35:10,492
Here the sources differ
quite significantly.
505
00:35:10,512 --> 00:35:14,364
And my own belief is that
London didn't surrender
506
00:35:14,384 --> 00:35:17,083
as easily as it is usually assumed.
507
00:35:17,103 --> 00:35:19,633
And that there was
actually a siege of London,
508
00:35:19,653 --> 00:35:22,588
in other words London
was captured by assault
509
00:35:22,608 --> 00:35:25,018
and not simply by surrender.
510
00:35:25,038 --> 00:35:29,179
So the Roman walls of London and defended
511
00:35:29,199 --> 00:35:31,547
by the Anglo-Saxon nobility
512
00:35:31,567 --> 00:35:33,756
in support of Edgar the Etheling,
513
00:35:33,776 --> 00:35:36,595
the Anglo-Saxon claimant to the throne
514
00:35:36,615 --> 00:35:38,152
once Harold was dead
515
00:35:38,172 --> 00:35:40,592
put up a pretty fierce resistance.
516
00:35:40,612 --> 00:35:43,098
It's slightly surprising that we don't hear
517
00:35:43,118 --> 00:35:44,656
more about the siege of London
518
00:35:44,676 --> 00:35:45,701
in the chronicles.
519
00:35:45,721 --> 00:35:48,603
And the really sad thing
is that the Bayeux Tapestry
520
00:35:48,623 --> 00:35:50,629
is cut off at the wrong moment.
521
00:35:50,649 --> 00:35:53,338
And I suspect it's true
that the Bayeux Tapestry
522
00:35:53,358 --> 00:35:57,316
actually had another 20 foot showing
523
00:35:57,336 --> 00:36:01,202
the capture of London in the end of it.
524
00:36:02,168 --> 00:36:04,878
A dizzying example of sagas propaganda,
525
00:36:04,898 --> 00:36:06,202
the tapestry made no mention
526
00:36:06,222 --> 00:36:09,902
of any looting, rape and
murder by the Norman army.
527
00:36:09,922 --> 00:36:12,036
It omitted the bloody siege of London
528
00:36:12,056 --> 00:36:14,191
and consigned to oblivion
the moving coronation
529
00:36:14,211 --> 00:36:16,122
of William on the throne of England,
530
00:36:16,142 --> 00:36:17,880
which was nonetheless carefully rehearsed
531
00:36:17,900 --> 00:36:21,223
and staged to avoid any mishap.
532
00:37:30,656 --> 00:37:32,422
Why did William want to come
533
00:37:32,442 --> 00:37:33,696
so much?
534
00:37:33,716 --> 00:37:36,021
Why did he make this huge effort
535
00:37:36,041 --> 00:37:37,601
to capture England?
536
00:37:37,621 --> 00:37:40,874
Because England was very rich.
537
00:37:40,894 --> 00:37:44,917
The city of London was
already very important
538
00:37:44,937 --> 00:37:46,955
international port.
539
00:37:46,975 --> 00:37:49,077
Because the kings of England
540
00:37:49,097 --> 00:37:52,885
had had to pay off the Dames all the time
541
00:37:52,905 --> 00:37:55,957
with Dane gold, they were very good
542
00:37:55,977 --> 00:37:58,080
at raising taxes.
543
00:37:58,100 --> 00:38:00,277
They actually raised the money,
544
00:38:00,297 --> 00:38:02,441
revenues from their land.
545
00:38:02,461 --> 00:38:07,461
So it was a very attractive
land for William.
546
00:38:08,564 --> 00:38:10,102
The population of London was the biggest
547
00:38:10,122 --> 00:38:11,819
of any English city.
548
00:38:11,839 --> 00:38:13,632
So large areas within the Roman walls
549
00:38:13,652 --> 00:38:15,584
were open land, there
were vegetable gardens,
550
00:38:15,604 --> 00:38:17,024
they were fields.
551
00:38:17,044 --> 00:38:17,953
There were churches,
552
00:38:17,973 --> 00:38:20,938
there was some vestige
of the Roman street plan,
553
00:38:20,958 --> 00:38:21,984
but not very much.
554
00:38:22,004 --> 00:38:25,749
But actually, most of
the commerce of London
555
00:38:25,769 --> 00:38:28,884
took place in an area which
was outside the walls,
556
00:38:28,904 --> 00:38:30,346
to the west of London,
557
00:38:30,366 --> 00:38:33,600
which is called by the
"Anglo-Saxon Chronicle"
558
00:38:33,620 --> 00:38:36,587
and by archaeologists today, London Wick.
559
00:38:36,607 --> 00:38:37,921
And that is where the main center
560
00:38:37,941 --> 00:38:40,033
of commerce and population existed.
561
00:38:40,053 --> 00:38:42,090
And then just further west of that
562
00:38:42,110 --> 00:38:44,351
there was Westminister Palace.
563
00:38:44,371 --> 00:38:46,133
And that's where the political power
564
00:38:46,153 --> 00:38:48,542
and the commercial power actually lay.
565
00:39:01,265 --> 00:39:02,291
As the city of London
566
00:39:02,311 --> 00:39:04,264
was a key piece of the puzzle,
567
00:39:04,284 --> 00:39:07,304
heavily populated and
William feared a revolt,
568
00:39:07,324 --> 00:39:10,536
he immediately built fortifications.
569
00:39:10,556 --> 00:39:14,241
The biggest was called the Tower of London.
570
00:39:15,633 --> 00:39:18,216
It's an absolutely magnificent building.
571
00:39:18,236 --> 00:39:23,236
He builds it in the corner
of the Roman wall at London.
572
00:39:25,510 --> 00:39:28,178
The corner, the eastern corner,
573
00:39:28,198 --> 00:39:32,935
so that it dominates both the city
574
00:39:32,955 --> 00:39:36,636
and it would be enormously dominate
575
00:39:36,656 --> 00:39:40,445
to anyone who approached London by ship
576
00:39:40,465 --> 00:39:42,278
up the river Thames.
577
00:39:42,298 --> 00:39:44,038
So they would come along the Thames,
578
00:39:44,058 --> 00:39:47,921
imagine merchants from the empire,
579
00:39:47,941 --> 00:39:51,099
from Scandinavia and from France,
580
00:39:51,119 --> 00:39:54,790
ambassadors coming from say
the Emperor or Flanders.
581
00:39:54,810 --> 00:39:56,976
They would come up the Thames
582
00:39:56,996 --> 00:40:01,360
and they would see this
magnificent building.
583
00:40:03,719 --> 00:40:07,261
It was built out of carved stone,
584
00:40:07,281 --> 00:40:09,564
and we know that it was lime washed.
585
00:40:09,584 --> 00:40:11,633
That's why it was called the White Tower.
586
00:40:11,653 --> 00:40:13,489
The one side that wasn't magnificent
587
00:40:13,509 --> 00:40:15,805
was the north side,
588
00:40:15,825 --> 00:40:17,927
which didn't really matter.
589
00:40:17,947 --> 00:40:22,947
And all the toilets were designed
590
00:40:23,493 --> 00:40:26,278
so that they gave out onto the northside.
591
00:40:26,298 --> 00:40:30,139
So the entire tower, this
magnificent white tower,
592
00:40:30,159 --> 00:40:31,825
but I'm afraid on the northside
593
00:40:31,845 --> 00:40:33,318
would have been rather spoiled
594
00:40:33,338 --> 00:40:38,338
by the effects of guard robes.
595
00:40:39,930 --> 00:40:41,393
But they didn't worry about that.
596
00:40:41,413 --> 00:40:43,675
What matters is the three facades
597
00:40:43,695 --> 00:40:46,779
that people were really suppose to see.
598
00:40:46,799 --> 00:40:50,384
And it was tucked into
a bit of the Roman wall.
599
00:40:50,404 --> 00:40:53,381
He used the Roman wall, which still existed
600
00:40:53,401 --> 00:40:57,759
almost as if William was Caesar.
601
00:40:59,897 --> 00:41:01,616
And it's undoubtedly true
602
00:41:01,636 --> 00:41:03,525
that one of the reasons
why the Norman conquest
603
00:41:03,545 --> 00:41:04,943
was a success,
604
00:41:04,963 --> 00:41:07,311
was the proliferation of castles
605
00:41:07,331 --> 00:41:08,794
during William's lifetime,
606
00:41:08,814 --> 00:41:11,066
during the first years after the conquest.
607
00:41:11,086 --> 00:41:13,231
On the initiative specially of the king
608
00:41:13,251 --> 00:41:16,423
and his great nobles,
such William FitzOsborne,
609
00:41:16,443 --> 00:41:18,364
William du Orand and so,
610
00:41:18,384 --> 00:41:19,548
and who built castles
611
00:41:19,568 --> 00:41:22,599
to control England in a very, very
612
00:41:22,619 --> 00:41:24,614
solid kind of way.
613
00:41:24,634 --> 00:41:26,864
And their example was taken up
614
00:41:26,884 --> 00:41:30,139
by the lesser nobility,
as decade followed decade
615
00:41:30,159 --> 00:41:32,507
after William's death more were built.
616
00:41:32,527 --> 00:41:35,526
And by 1100, it's believed that there about
617
00:41:35,546 --> 00:41:37,637
500 castles in England.
618
00:41:37,657 --> 00:41:41,032
Whereas before 1066,
there had been about five.
619
00:41:42,024 --> 00:41:43,145
William's problem was that
620
00:41:43,165 --> 00:41:44,627
he couldn't be in Normandy and England
621
00:41:44,647 --> 00:41:46,620
at the same time.
622
00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:48,645
When he was in England,
623
00:41:48,665 --> 00:41:51,269
the Normans never actually rebelled
624
00:41:51,289 --> 00:41:54,212
but often those from Le Mans, Auxerre
625
00:41:54,232 --> 00:41:56,453
and the Breton's did.
626
00:41:56,473 --> 00:41:58,629
Conversely when he was in Normandy,
627
00:41:58,649 --> 00:42:00,538
he managed to quell any revolt,
628
00:42:00,558 --> 00:42:02,213
but the Scots and the Welsh were busy
629
00:42:02,233 --> 00:42:04,972
attacking England.
630
00:42:06,646 --> 00:42:09,489
There were insistent revolts.
631
00:42:10,789 --> 00:42:14,967
And the Norman yoke was
mercilessly applied.
632
00:42:17,139 --> 00:42:20,553
There were massacres,
particularly in the north.
633
00:42:20,573 --> 00:42:23,358
And for three years,
William went from one region
634
00:42:23,378 --> 00:42:25,502
to the next with an army to massacre
635
00:42:25,522 --> 00:42:26,772
the population.
636
00:42:26,792 --> 00:42:30,113
Sometimes an innocent population.
637
00:42:30,513 --> 00:42:32,584
We can say that by 1072
638
00:42:32,604 --> 00:42:34,665
order had been restored.
639
00:42:34,685 --> 00:42:38,583
But it was an order imposed by terror.
640
00:42:39,142 --> 00:42:41,053
William was becoming old.
641
00:42:41,073 --> 00:42:43,379
He'd grown fat and had lost the confidence
642
00:42:43,399 --> 00:42:45,954
of those around him.
643
00:42:51,175 --> 00:42:52,372
His half brother, Odo,
644
00:42:52,392 --> 00:42:56,384
was William the Conqueror's
right hand man for years.
645
00:42:56,404 --> 00:42:58,251
Each time William came to Normandy,
646
00:42:58,271 --> 00:43:00,224
he played the role of viceroy,
647
00:43:00,244 --> 00:43:02,517
who governed in the name of the king.
648
00:43:02,537 --> 00:43:04,799
So he was an important character.
649
00:43:04,819 --> 00:43:06,230
No doubt not well liked
650
00:43:06,250 --> 00:43:08,363
because he was very authoritarian.
651
00:43:08,383 --> 00:43:10,176
He prized wealth and riches,
652
00:43:10,196 --> 00:43:13,795
but he nevertheless governed
England efficiently.
653
00:43:14,677 --> 00:43:15,872
But there came a time when he took
654
00:43:15,892 --> 00:43:17,911
to much liberty with the king.
655
00:43:17,931 --> 00:43:20,278
We're not absolutely sure
of the circumstances,
656
00:43:20,298 --> 00:43:23,161
but it seems he wanted to
set off on his own expedition
657
00:43:23,181 --> 00:43:26,596
to Rome, perhaps to overthrow the pope,
658
00:43:26,616 --> 00:43:28,921
perhaps to be elected pope.
659
00:43:28,941 --> 00:43:31,004
We don't really know.
660
00:43:54,217 --> 00:43:56,915
When William found out, he was appalled.
661
00:43:56,935 --> 00:44:00,022
The scene happened on the Isle of Wight,
662
00:44:00,042 --> 00:44:01,676
he was about to set sail
663
00:44:01,696 --> 00:44:04,275
and William caught him
on the Isle of Wight,
664
00:44:04,295 --> 00:44:08,386
and ordered that his brother
be arrested as a rebel.
665
00:44:14,421 --> 00:44:15,500
Nobody dared touch him
666
00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:18,117
because he was such an important figure.
667
00:44:21,176 --> 00:44:22,736
So William himself seized
668
00:44:22,756 --> 00:44:25,704
his brother's shoulder and said,
669
00:44:37,827 --> 00:44:38,853
And he was arrested,
670
00:44:38,873 --> 00:44:40,097
imprisoned in Rouen,
671
00:44:40,117 --> 00:44:42,775
and remained in prison
until William's death.
672
00:44:42,795 --> 00:44:46,969
So for five years, from 1082 to 1087.
673
00:44:57,994 --> 00:45:00,831
His whole reign stretched over 20 years,
674
00:45:00,851 --> 00:45:04,901
between 1066 and 1086.
675
00:45:05,141 --> 00:45:07,137
So has he came to the end of his reign,
676
00:45:07,157 --> 00:45:10,232
he felt the need to
know his kingdom better.
677
00:45:10,252 --> 00:45:12,912
For all sorts of reasons.
678
00:45:13,732 --> 00:45:16,984
In particular for fiscal reasons,
679
00:45:17,004 --> 00:45:18,562
to know what sums were owed
680
00:45:18,582 --> 00:45:21,580
by such and such a lord,
such and such an estate,
681
00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:24,225
or such and such a town.
682
00:45:25,255 --> 00:45:28,570
So he preceded with a great survey.
683
00:45:28,662 --> 00:45:32,077
He sent his investigators
to every county in England,
684
00:45:32,097 --> 00:45:35,960
and the result of this
survey was written down
685
00:45:35,980 --> 00:45:39,351
in a great book, called in English,
686
00:45:39,371 --> 00:45:42,128
"The Domesday Book."
687
00:45:42,827 --> 00:45:46,074
Which means the book of the last judgement.
688
00:45:47,126 --> 00:45:49,612
So King William was able to know his people
689
00:45:49,632 --> 00:45:52,943
down to the very last inhabitant.
690
00:45:53,260 --> 00:45:56,613
Like Christ at the final judgement.
691
00:45:57,429 --> 00:45:58,689
"The Domesday Book" can also
692
00:45:58,709 --> 00:46:02,234
be summarized as a
rather bizarre inventory.
693
00:46:03,169 --> 00:46:05,515
Mr. Smith owns a dozen rabbits.
694
00:46:05,535 --> 00:46:08,257
There are 2,500 pigs in Chester.
695
00:46:08,277 --> 00:46:10,443
Ms. Charleston's hens did not lay any eggs
696
00:46:10,463 --> 00:46:12,951
in the year of our Lord 1072.
697
00:46:12,971 --> 00:46:15,756
Three calfs drowned in Grimsby.
698
00:46:15,776 --> 00:46:19,798
Mr. Wessing's 80 cows
produces 1,000 liters of milk.
699
00:46:19,818 --> 00:46:22,048
There goes a horse.
700
00:46:22,068 --> 00:46:25,473
The town Lewes has 412 inhabitants.
701
00:46:25,493 --> 00:46:27,851
South Hampton, 5,433.
702
00:46:27,871 --> 00:46:31,021
Liverpool 2,987.
703
00:46:32,705 --> 00:46:35,009
On November 1st, 1083,
704
00:46:35,029 --> 00:46:37,507
Matilda died in Caen.
705
00:46:37,527 --> 00:46:39,095
She was buried at the lady's abbey
706
00:46:39,115 --> 00:46:41,210
that she founded.
707
00:46:41,230 --> 00:46:43,417
This was dreadful news to William.
708
00:46:43,437 --> 00:46:45,593
His faithful collaborator left him alone
709
00:46:45,613 --> 00:46:47,524
with conflicts to resolve.
710
00:46:47,544 --> 00:46:49,572
In particular, with one of his son's,
711
00:46:49,592 --> 00:46:52,806
the eldest Robert Curthose.
712
00:47:24,226 --> 00:47:25,731
In the autumn of his life,
713
00:47:25,751 --> 00:47:28,707
William entered into conflict
with the king of France,
714
00:47:28,727 --> 00:47:32,845
who was now Philip I, son of Henry I.
715
00:47:32,865 --> 00:47:36,184
Who wanted to win back part of the Vexin
716
00:47:36,204 --> 00:47:38,822
that had been yielded to the Normans.
717
00:47:39,713 --> 00:47:41,112
This was a border region
718
00:47:41,132 --> 00:47:42,264
that had long been disputed
719
00:47:42,284 --> 00:47:45,239
between France and Normandy.
720
00:47:48,558 --> 00:47:51,909
And in 1087, William attempted an operation
721
00:47:51,929 --> 00:47:54,665
to seize the Vexin.
722
00:48:48,461 --> 00:48:49,263
During an expedition
723
00:48:49,283 --> 00:48:50,743
to the French Vexin,
724
00:48:50,763 --> 00:48:53,368
William had an accident.
725
00:48:53,388 --> 00:48:56,504
His horse reared up and he was wounded
726
00:48:56,524 --> 00:48:59,372
in the stomach by the pommel of his saddle.
727
00:49:04,950 --> 00:49:08,130
Transported to Rouen, his capital,
728
00:49:08,150 --> 00:49:11,376
it took him about a week to die.
729
00:49:12,661 --> 00:49:15,597
He retained his lucidity until the end.
730
00:49:15,617 --> 00:49:18,446
Orderic Vitalis had him
deliver a long speech
731
00:49:18,466 --> 00:49:20,707
in which he admitted all his faults,
732
00:49:20,727 --> 00:49:23,161
and distributed his inhertance.
733
00:49:23,181 --> 00:49:25,411
Choosing William Rufus, his younger son,
734
00:49:25,431 --> 00:49:30,118
as his heir not his eldest
son, Robert Curthose.
735
00:49:33,655 --> 00:49:37,115
So William was a politician
until the very end.
736
00:49:59,748 --> 00:50:01,819
According to Orderic Vitalis,
737
00:50:01,839 --> 00:50:03,909
William owned up on his deathbed
738
00:50:03,929 --> 00:50:07,335
to conquering England unfairly.
739
00:50:11,652 --> 00:50:14,308
But this wasn't in William's nature.
740
00:50:14,328 --> 00:50:16,996
He had to high an opinion of his mission
741
00:50:17,016 --> 00:50:21,113
and his legitimacy to reassess
his reign in this way.
742
00:50:21,133 --> 00:50:23,975
Particularly his conquest of England.
743
00:50:28,099 --> 00:50:30,425
Here one must concede that Orderic Vitalis
744
00:50:30,445 --> 00:50:33,927
perhaps added a little
romance to the story.
745
00:52:05,813 --> 00:52:06,679
At that moment,
746
00:52:06,699 --> 00:52:09,829
panic spread throughout the house.
747
00:52:10,335 --> 00:52:14,532
All the barons fled, as well as the clerks.
748
00:52:15,007 --> 00:52:18,339
The servants left, taking the crockery.
749
00:52:20,693 --> 00:52:25,310
William remained alone on his deathbed.
750
00:52:38,481 --> 00:52:41,962
His body had to be taken by sea to Caen,
751
00:52:41,982 --> 00:52:43,999
as he wished to be buried in the abbey
752
00:52:44,019 --> 00:52:47,753
he founded in Saint Etienne du Caen.
753
00:52:52,059 --> 00:52:53,244
WIlliam's tomb contains
754
00:52:53,264 --> 00:52:55,700
yet another riddle.
755
00:52:57,008 --> 00:52:58,865
Why have the conqueror's say
756
00:52:58,885 --> 00:53:02,175
that he regretted claiming
the throne of England?
757
00:53:03,461 --> 00:53:06,793
Was this an intuition of what was to come?
758
00:53:07,759 --> 00:53:10,587
It is said, who can say if it's true,
759
00:53:10,607 --> 00:53:12,678
that the ghost's of Matilda and William
760
00:53:12,698 --> 00:53:14,075
sometimes wander the throne room
761
00:53:14,095 --> 00:53:16,222
like lost souls.
762
00:53:17,071 --> 00:53:19,419
But somethings we do know for certain,
763
00:53:19,439 --> 00:53:21,392
that Normandy lost its sovereignty
764
00:53:21,412 --> 00:53:23,323
and was definitively incorporated
765
00:53:23,343 --> 00:53:26,023
into the throne of France in 1204.
766
00:53:26,043 --> 00:53:28,231
That the Normans who had settled in England
767
00:53:28,251 --> 00:53:32,007
took wives and their
descendants became English.
768
00:53:32,027 --> 00:53:34,886
That 250 years after the death of William,
769
00:53:34,906 --> 00:53:36,721
England invaded Normandy
770
00:53:36,741 --> 00:53:40,251
launching a war that lasted 100 years.
771
00:53:40,271 --> 00:53:44,081
And that in 1944, 878 years after William
772
00:53:44,101 --> 00:53:46,310
the British and their allies
773
00:53:46,330 --> 00:53:48,336
finally landed In Normandy,
774
00:53:48,356 --> 00:53:50,588
recreating the Normans exploit
775
00:53:50,608 --> 00:53:52,561
in the opposite direction
776
00:53:52,581 --> 00:53:55,557
and on a far greater scale.
54220
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