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Late afternoon.

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Saturday, the 14th of October.

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The year is 1066.

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And this is the Battle of Hastings.

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But 1066 was about far more than just one battle.

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This is the story of three kings, three battles and three invasions.

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Of 12 months that transformed Britain.

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As well as Harold of England...

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..and Duke William of Normandy...

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Do you recognise me?

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..there was also a Viking, King Harald Hardrada,

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all facing off in a series of bloodbaths...

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..that brought an end to the long terror of the Vikings.

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Before, finally, the epic Battle of Hastings itself.

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In a few bloody hours, the Anglo-Saxon world was swept aside.
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It was the greatest rupture in British history.

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What it led to is stamped on our landscape.

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The Normans forged a new Britain

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with language, laws and customs we still live with today.

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But just how a tiny region of France

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seized such power is much less clear.

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Now I'm going to travel Europe in search of answers...

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Come on!

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..experiment with weapons and tactics...

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That is terrifying.

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..and discover revelations hidden within a unique document

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written just months after those great battles...

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The Carmen tells us that Harald died in a very different way.

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..to reveal a bitter tale of family betrayals...

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My brother is a lying dog.

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..and tragic twists of fate...

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Soon we will be filling England's graveyards.

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..which would change the shape of Britain...

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- March to battle.
- ..and Europe...

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..forever.

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Shall we do battle?

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MEN CHEER

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This is the real story of 1066.

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'They say that becoming king is a gift from God.'

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- How is he?
- He's not going to last.

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- How long?
- Not long now.

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'But sometimes, it's about being in the right place at the right time.

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'Edward the Confessor is King of England.

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EDWARD MUTTERS

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'But his long reign is coming to an end.'

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Close your eyes.

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Rest.

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We can never be absolutely sure what happened as Edward lay dying,

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but we do know that it led to war

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and made 1066 the most famous date in British history.

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To go back to 11th-century England is to enter a very different world

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which lived by different rules.

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It's a long time ago -

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you have to go back 500 years to the Tudors and then another 500 years

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before them. And the problem is, we don't know very much about it.

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Take the battlefield of Hastings.

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Today, there aren't many clues here that tell us how things went

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on that bloody day. And the sources we do have are fragmentary,

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ancient texts which are often conflicting,

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semi-fictional poems and sagas.

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There are huge gaps in our knowledge.

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This was a world still emerging from the Dark Ages,

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where reality mingled with epic tales...

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..myths and legends...

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to create stories we have been

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telling ourselves for almost 1,000 years.

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I want to try and get to the heart of what actually happened

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in that extraordinary year,

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a year that began with King Edward on his deathbed.

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EDWARD MUTTERS

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'The problem is that the old king is childless.

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'England has no successor.'

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It's just a fever. God is with you.
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'Across Europe, three powerful warlords are watching...

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'..and waiting.'

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Come on, bloody well mean it!

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'200 miles south of London,

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'a 38-year-old illegitimate duke rules with an iron fist.'

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It's not that hard!

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'William of Normandy has fought

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'his way to the top since the age of seven.'

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At least he can do it.

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'He expects to be the next King of England.

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'Because he claims that Edward himself has promised him the crown.

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'Nearly 1,000 miles north.

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'The Viking Harald III is King of Norway.'

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You really should know better. I mean, where's your gratitude?

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I keep you and your parents safe and you see fit
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to ignore your responsibilities.

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You need to pay your count.

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You simply leave me no choice.

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'He'll be known in time as Hardrada, the hard ruler.'

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Not that I don't enjoy hearing you squeal like a wretched hog,

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but that's enough.

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Now, crawl home and tell your neighbours

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what happens when you don't pay your dues.

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Out of my sight.

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'Hardrada is a Viking warrior, of the old school.'

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That's that sorted.

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'The Vikings ruled England just 30 years ago.'

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He did squeal, didn't he?

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'Perhaps their time will come again.'

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You've been a strong king.

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You defended the kingdom...

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..under the eyes of God Almighty.

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'Harold Godwinson is the third contender.

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'He's the King's brother-in-law...'

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Amen.

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'..and the power behind Edward's throne.'

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You created God's kingdom here on earth.

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And I will look after it for you.

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I owe it to you as my king.

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And as my friend.

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England is in safe hands.

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'Three warriors...

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'..all lusting for Edward's crown...

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'..and the English throne.'

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I've asked three historians to step into the world of 1066

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and enter the minds of our three competing warlords.

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This is lies, lies, lies.

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All you ever speak are lies.

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They'll explore the thinking behind their battle plans.

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And that's the moment for my secret weapon.

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And this is a glorious bloodbath.

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William of Normandy...

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..Harold Godwinson...

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..and Harold Hardrada.

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I'm here in Norway and the Vikings

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take a pretty keen interest in England.

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And by a keen interest, I mean, in the ninth century, the Danes,

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another group of Vikings, had conquered and colonised England,

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splitting it effectively in two.
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Between 1016 and 1042 the whole of England was under Viking rule,

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so when I looked from Norway at England

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I just see part of a Scandinavian empire,

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a place just waiting to be reconquered.

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The land I rule, Normandy, is indeed small compared with England

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and with Norway. But...

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I'm at the head of a terrifying war machine

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and I'm a man of indomitable ambition.

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HE SCREAMS

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And I know that beyond this tantalisingly narrow strip of water

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England is waiting, promising me land, plunder, and perhaps,

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above all, the chance to become an anointed king.

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I'm really not worried about foreign invasion.

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After all, we are an island, not easy to get into.

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Really, Norway, you have not been a threat for 50 years.
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Normandy, you're tiny and you're so busy fighting amongst yourselves

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and fighting with the rest of France

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that you're not a threat to me at all. I am sitting pretty.

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In 1066, England was a glittering jewel.

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It was prosperous, it was wealthy,

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it had the most sophisticated financial system in Europe.

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It was remarkably well organised, very centralised.

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The King sat right in the middle of it all.

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Taxes flowed in to the Royal Treasury,

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making the monarch the richest man in the kingdom.

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King Edward spent years using his

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vast wealth to build a new royal base

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right on the River Thames.

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Upstream, to the west of London.

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Nowadays, Westminster is the cradle of British power and Parliament.

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But 950 years ago it was a very different scene.

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Back then it was just a scrap of

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English countryside a mile upriver

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from the bustling City of London,

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home to nothing more than a small monastery.

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Until, that is,

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King Edward the Confessor decided to build a palace there

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and commission a mighty church.

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A great symbol of his power, piety and wealth,

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Westminster Abbey.

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This was a massive labour of religious devotion.

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And by 1066, his work was almost complete.

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But Edward wouldn't live to see it finished.

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Instead, the abbey would become his burial place.

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Edward's tomb still stands at its heart.

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The previous kings of Anglo-Saxon England, going back to the time

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when they're Kings of Wessex, their capital was Winchester,

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but Edward is creating a new seat of royal power at Westminster.

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We are told because it is a pretty spot, he liked the monks there,

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but also because it's conveniently close to London,

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and London is taking over as a commercial centre,

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so there's good political and economic reasons

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for wanting to create that new seat of power.

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Edward the Confessor was not in the mould of the traditional

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warrior king of the medieval period.

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He was much more devout and pious

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and was, of course, later made a saint.

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The story goes that Edward's extreme piety led him to live

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a life of marital chastity.
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Whether or not that's true,

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Edward's childlessness did leave England with a dangerous problem.

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'Three days pass.

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'And unexpectedly, the old king suddenly rallies.'

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So this is the only surviving copy of the Vita Edwardi Regis,

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the life of King Edward,

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and it gives us this incredible description of his deathbed,

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when Edward hadn't spoken for days, and then he regained consciousness

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and he described the people gathered around his bed,

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this dream he had had, in which two monks had appeared to him

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and given him a prophecy.

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And he says then that he's been told...

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SHE SPEAKS LATIN

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..within a year and a day after your death,

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God has delivered all his kingdom
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into the hands of the enemy.

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And devils shall come through all this land with fire and scorn...

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..and the havoc of war.

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'A day later,

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'King Edward is at last at peace.'

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PRIEST SPEAKS LATIN

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Amen.

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Edward's premonition of disaster was about to become all too true.

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His death was like a starting gun,

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triggering the race to seize the English throne.

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'Harold's rivals are at a disadvantage,

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'hundreds of miles away across the sea.

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'While Harold is on the spot.

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'And timing is on his side.

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'The leading nobles of England have been in London since Christmas.

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'And with no clear heir, it's they who must choose the next king.'

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I came to celebrate the birth of our saviour.

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And now I lament the death of a king.

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A very sad day for England.

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A very sad day for us all.

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'The Council of Nobles includes one of Harold's brothers, Gyrth,

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'Earl of East Anglia.'

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- He was a good man. A decent king.
- A great king.

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But his illness left him weak and reliant on his true friends.

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I think you will find that everybody here was a true friend to him.

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When kings die...

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..there is danger in the land.

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So we must act quickly and crown a new king.

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Harold was well placed and had support.
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There was just one problem.

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Harold still faced a significant obstacle to becoming king.

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Even though he was the most powerful man in the land,

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even though he was the king's brother-in-law,

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he had no direct blood link with the Crown.

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And Edward had left one blood relative.

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Just 14 years old, Edgar the Atheling was Edward's great-nephew.

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Of course, there is the boy.

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But he's a boy.

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A boy with royal blood.

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These times are dangerous.

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We don't need a boy.

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We need a man. Someone who knows how to rule, someone who has ruled.

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From 1056, Harold has been king in all but name.

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He is Edward's right-hand man, he is ambitious, he is a proven soldier -
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he's the perfect man to become king.

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His father Godwin had successfully built up a great dynasty and also

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amassed an enormous fortune of land and of lordship.

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You might think of Godwin as being the godfather

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of Edward the Confessor's regime

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and the organisation that he built up as being a Mafia.

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It was very hard to govern England

258
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without that, and so Harold had become the natural choice.

259
00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:21,960
I do have to acknowledge a lot of it is down to my father.

260
00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,280
Everything I ever learnt about power and politics

261
00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:26,520
I learned from him.

262
00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:29,280
When he died, King Edward rewarded

263
00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:33,200
me and my brothers with vast areas of land,

264
00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:36,800
so I got the great prize of Wessex.

265
00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:40,000
My younger brother Gyrth, he got East Anglia,

266
00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:42,640
another brother got Kent,

267
00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:45,120
another brother, Tostig,

268
00:19:45,120 --> 00:19:48,600
got that great northern earldom of Northumbria.

269
00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,960
So you can see we have pretty much got the whole country sewn up.

270
00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:02,000
Harold was certainly the consummate politician.

271
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:05,600
He knew he had to clinch the deal and get the King's Council

272
00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:10,120
to make him king. So just a few minutes after Edward's death,

273
00:20:10,120 --> 00:20:12,440
Harold pulled an ace from his sleeve.

274
00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:17,920
An astonishing report of what he claimed

275
00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,400
had just happened in Edward's bedchamber.

276
00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:26,360
In these times of loss and uncertainty,

277
00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:29,400
a great burden falls upon us all.

278
00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:32,960
I fear the future for us all.

279
00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:35,960
There is nothing to fear if we have a strong king.

280
00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:39,560
You shouldn't be afraid, my friend.

281
00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,520
Edward, in his wisdom, had planned for this day,

282
00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:47,360
and I know there are those who are saying that in the end

283
00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:49,400
he was not of sound mind, but I was there.

284
00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:53,640
He knew what he was saying.

285
00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:56,040
What did he say?

286
00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:03,200
He told me, to my face, that it is an onerous and grave undertaking...

287
00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:05,680
..to be king.

288
00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:13,200
And I have given my word, friends.

289
00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:18,600
Now, there is much work to be done.

290
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:29,440
Right, I don't think so.

291
00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:35,120
You really expect me to believe that Edward made you king?

292
00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:37,840
This is an absolutely shameless power grab.

293
00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:40,560
It doesn't matter to me if I convince you,

294
00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,240
I only need to convince the earls of England.
295
00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:48,160
I'm sorry, but you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

296
00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:50,680
But this is the oldest story in the book.

297
00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:53,560
The deathbed bequest, how convenient!

298
00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:58,520
Well, neither of you were there, I was, so I know what happened.

299
00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:10,960
The disputed moment is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry,

300
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:15,160
a 70 metre long work of embroidery that was sewn in England

301
00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:17,520
a decade after 1066.

302
00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:21,520
It's a vivid cartoon strip

303
00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:24,080
depicting the key events of that momentous year.

304
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,960
Edward, on his deathbed, touches Harold's hand,

305
00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,800
perhaps naming him as his successor.

306
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:37,960
Then, after Edward has died,

307
00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:43,480
English nobles hand Harold the crown and point back towards Edward.

308
00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,760
Do these images suggest that Edward did indeed choose Harold

309
00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:49,880
to succeed him?
310
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:53,520
We'll never know.

311
00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:59,440
Either way, truth or lie,

312
00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:02,640
the story was one which the nobles on the King's Council

313
00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:05,720
were happy to go along with. They knew that they needed a strong,

314
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:10,000
powerful warrior king, and Harold was the best candidate.

315
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:13,480
So, on the 6th of January, 1066,

316
00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:17,480
England buried one king in the morning and crowned another

317
00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:19,040
in the afternoon.

318
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,160
'Harold is anointed king.

319
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,840
'Just feet away from Edward's freshly buried body.'

320
00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:06,760
This gets worse and worse!

321
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,920
This is shocking behaviour!

322
00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:14,840
The holy convention is that a king is only crowned months after

323
00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:18,600
he has been elected, but Edward is still basically warm!

324
00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:21,280
All the nobles are gathered in Westminster,

325
00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:24,400
they've been there since Christmas waiting for the king to die.

326
00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:27,760
What am I going to do, send them all home and then get them back

327
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:30,560
in a few months so they can see me getting crowned?

328
00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:34,920
No, the sensible thing is for me to be crowned right here, right now.

329
00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:41,360
Harold had beaten his rivals and won the great prize of the English crown

330
00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:43,520
but his glory would be short-lived.

331
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,200
As the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle put it,

332
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,280
"Earl Harold was consecrated king,

333
00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:53,280
"but he met with little quiet as long as he ruled the realm."

334
00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:00,800
'Across the sea, Harold's rivals

335
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,680
'haven't yet heard news of Edward's death,

336
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:07,520
'let alone reports of the English earl's rapid rise to the throne.

337
00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:14,840
'William is 200 miles away across the Channel in Rouen,

338
00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:16,680
'the largest city in Normandy.

339
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:23,000
'The Viking Harold Hardrada is even further away,

340
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:24,880
'in the uplands of Norway.'

341
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:31,440
Let the flames cure our wayward peasants of their disloyalty.

342
00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:35,080
'But Harold knows that their state

343
00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,840
'of ignorance will very soon come to an end.

344
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:03,360
'Just seven days into 1066

345
00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:06,840
'and Harold wakes for the first time as king.'

346
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:12,280
Firstly, it would have made him

347
00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:15,120
three times richer, this is wonderful.

348
00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:18,120
He is suddenly a multi-multibillionaire.

349
00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:22,360
But he would have hoped that the process of being crowned

350
00:26:22,360 --> 00:26:24,280
would have made him special.

351
00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:28,840
He had a great devotion to God

352
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,080
and it must have made a difference to him

353
00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:34,800
to be recognised by God as a different kind of man,
354
00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:38,040
because a king is a different kind of man from an earl.

355
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,960
A king has a connection with God that an earl does not.

356
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:47,760
Does it feel good?

357
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:50,480
Not bad.

358
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:53,680
No, there is much to do.

359
00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:57,240
We have enemies everywhere. Here and abroad.

360
00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:01,120
Keep your friends close and your enemies fearful.

361
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:12,760
Brussels.

362
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:14,240
In the 11th century,

363
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:18,840
this was home to little more than a small religious shrine in Flanders.

364
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:24,240
Today, Brussels houses a secret...

365
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,400
..preserved for nearly 1,000 years.

366
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:36,480
Hidden in the bowels of the Belgian National Library

367
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:40,320
is an extraordinarily precious manuscript.

368
00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:44,120
A fragile book containing an epic poem,
369
00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:47,240
surviving only in this unique copy.

370
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:53,240
For decades, historians thought these words were written generations

371
00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:54,840
after the Norman conquest.

372
00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,560
But now it is widely accepted that this

373
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,680
is our very earliest account of 1066,

374
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:05,640
written just months after the Battle of Hastings.

375
00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:10,320
It's packed with vivid details that challenge much

376
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:11,960
of what we thought we knew.

377
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:18,960
This document is the Carmen de Hastingae Proelio,

378
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,640
the song or poem of the Battle of Hastings.

379
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,720
And it does have some very vivid descriptions

380
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:29,720
and it talks about Harold, and it paints him in very black terms.

381
00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:31,880
There's a line here that begins...

382
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,040
HE READS LATIN

383
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:43,320
"Meanwhile, that emboldened inheritor of the blackest deceit."

384
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:48,800
He is described at one point as a "fatuous rex", a stupid king.

385
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,320
Elsewhere in the manuscript, Harold is described

386
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:53,200
as "sceleratus," wicked.

387
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:55,360
This is what this manuscript is about,

388
00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,120
it's not trying to give us an impartial history.

389
00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:00,440
The author tells us in his prologue

390
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:02,960
that he is writing to praise William.

391
00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:04,960
So it's incredibly partisan.

392
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:10,400
Partisan it might be,

393
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,880
but the Carmen gives us valuable clues

394
00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,360
as to what Harold's rivals would think of him

395
00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:18,400
as soon as they found out that he'd seized the crown.

396
00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:27,440
And in early January, 1066, news was travelling fast.

397
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:35,840
So how long did it take for the news to reach William in Rouen?

398
00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:38,760
There are basically two routes it might have travelled by.

399
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:41,040
One is down the Thames by boat,

400
00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:45,080
around the coast of Kent through the Straits of Dover and down that way.

401
00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,880
The other is by horseback from London to the south coast and then

402
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:51,680
on a longship straight across the Channel.

403
00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:55,320
By horseback it took about a day and a half to go from London

404
00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:57,840
to the south coast, then with a following wind,

405
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:00,880
a day to get across the Channel and a bit longer to get up the river

406
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:02,960
here to Rouen, so William could have

407
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:05,360
heard the news in as little as three days.

408
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:14,200
My lord.

409
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:15,440
William.

410
00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:17,920
I bring news from England.

411
00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:21,120
Good King Edward has died.

412
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:25,440
May his soul rest in peace.
413
00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:28,800
The English have crowned a new king.

414
00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:33,880
Harold Godwinson.

415
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:37,160
- How?
- Edward decreed it on his deathbed.

416
00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:39,040
- Why?
- It makes no sense.

417
00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:41,600
- When was he crowned?
- On the very same day

418
00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:44,520
Edward was buried, and in the same place.

419
00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:47,320
Godwinson!

420
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:57,080
William wasn't a man to take things lying down.

421
00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:04,480
Within the pages of the Carmen,

422
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:07,720
William is described in marked contrast

423
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:09,960
to the fatuous, wicked Harold.

424
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:16,160
The Carmen describes William as the hero at every point.

425
00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:19,400
So here, for example, there's a line that says...

426
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:21,880
HE READS LATIN
427
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:26,200
"He was full of virtue, a bold knight."

428
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:30,200
You'd expect that from the Carmen because it's written for

429
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:32,800
William's court, possibly even for William's own ears.

430
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:34,360
What's interesting, though, is,

431
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:36,520
whichever source you look at for this period,

432
00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:40,800
whether it's French or Norman or even English,

433
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,320
William is described in similar terms.

434
00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:46,080
In terms of his ability as a general, he is a bold knight,

435
00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:47,400
he is a fearless warrior,

436
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:49,640
he is a great conqueror.

437
00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:56,040
William was utterly ruthless, the most feared warrior in Europe.

438
00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:01,960
He had been chiselled into this fearsome character

439
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:04,200
from his very early years.

440
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:09,040
He was also intensely pious and very frugal in his habits,

441
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:12,360
but above all else, he was utterly unforgiving.
442
00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:19,000
Never let it be forgotten that I am ultimately of Viking stock.

443
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:22,440
I am the great-great-great-grandson

444
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:26,040
of a Viking warlord who 150 years ago

445
00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:30,200
settled in Normandy and made it his own.

446
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:33,600
And over the succeeding 150 years,

447
00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:37,920
he and his successors carved out what has become

448
00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:43,080
the most militarily potent duchy in the whole of France.

449
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:47,840
We are Normans, a name that ultimately derives

450
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:49,960
from our origin, Northmen.

451
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:54,360
Listen, you can call yourself what you like, but you've changed.

452
00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:57,120
You've come down here, you settled down,

453
00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:59,080
you built yourself some nice castles,

454
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:01,120
you're even practising Christianity.

455
00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:03,160
I mean, I'm really sorry to say this,

456
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:05,200
but you've basically gone French.

457
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:08,400
Yes. I am proud to be Christian.

458
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:10,520
Et oui. I speak French.

459
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:13,600
But in my appetite for war...

460
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:15,480
I will conquer!

461
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:17,360
..I'm true to my ancestors.

462
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:19,360
I'm still pretty Viking.

463
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,120
William's childhood had been deeply traumatic.

464
00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:40,560
He had been born here in 1028,

465
00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:44,360
at the castle that towers over the small town of Falaise.

466
00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:50,880
William's pedigree wasn't entirely aristocratic.

467
00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:55,080
Sure enough, his father was Robert, Duke of Normandy, but his mother was

468
00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:58,000
the daughter of a tanner, a beautiful young woman

469
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:01,040
called Herleva with whom Robert had a brief affair.

470
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:03,480
So William was a bastard.

471
00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:11,520
William's father had died when he was just seven.

472
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:15,800
Normandy had become a war zone,

473
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:18,600
as competing factions fought for power.

474
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:24,240
William had to grow up fast.

475
00:34:24,240 --> 00:34:27,520
On one occasion, his steward had his throat slit

476
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:29,760
as he slept in the bed next to him.

477
00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:33,800
Another time, William had to escape from assassination

478
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:36,360
by galloping cross-country on horseback.

479
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:39,160
William himself said in his older years,

480
00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:42,360
"I was schooled in warfare since I was a child."

481
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,920
A brutal childhood had shaped William,

482
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:54,200
turning him into a duke who ruled through terror.

483
00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:55,680
Trust and loyalty.

484
00:34:57,760 --> 00:34:58,800
That's all.

485
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:01,480
Not too much to ask, eh?
486
00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:06,840
Next time, perhaps your charming wife

487
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:09,000
and sweet children will join us.

488
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:25,280
In 1051, when William was in his early 20s,

489
00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:27,440
the people of the town of Alencon

490
00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:30,640
rebelled against him, beat on animal skins -

491
00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:34,480
a cheap joke about him being the illegitimate son

492
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:36,400
of a tanner's daughter.

493
00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:38,360
William didn't find it funny.

494
00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:42,240
He stormed the town and seized 32 of the men

495
00:35:42,240 --> 00:35:44,720
and had their hands and feet cut off.

496
00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:51,800
William was a man you definitely didn't want to cross.

497
00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:56,880
And Harold Godwinson had done just that.

498
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:12,040
What's more, William commanded the most feared soldiers in Europe...

499
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:14,240
..the Norman knights.

500
00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:22,560
Their use of cavalry put them at the very cutting edge
501
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:24,160
of medieval warfare.

502
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,240
Horses can be terrifying.

503
00:36:35,240 --> 00:36:37,840
So I want you to get a feel of what that might be like.

504
00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:40,760
So, we've got our five horsemen there and I'm going to get them

505
00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:43,000
to come screaming up at you. Stay still...

506
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:45,920
..let the horses make a choice,

507
00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:48,360
and get an idea of what it might have been like

508
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:51,360
to face a horse at a full-out charge.

509
00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:52,960
You all right?

510
00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:55,440
- Perfect. Thanks very much.
- Think of England.

511
00:36:57,320 --> 00:36:58,640
OK, when you're ready, guys.

512
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:00,000
Canter. March.

513
00:37:07,240 --> 00:37:10,200
Five enormous horses coming straight towards me.

514
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:13,680
And the noise, their breathing, that's what really gets you.

515
00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:16,760
I can feel the ground shaking.

516
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:18,040
They going to leave a gap?

517
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:26,920
Right, I could have touched those on both sides as they went past.

518
00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:29,880
That was pretty terrifying.

519
00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:31,800
That's just the horses themselves.

520
00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:34,800
Just being that close to the beasts moving, that speed was terrifying,

521
00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:38,760
but if the men on top had had their weapons and been trying to kill me,

522
00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:40,800
that would have been...

523
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:42,360
unimaginable.

524
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:47,400
For the English, this was something completely new.

525
00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:53,480
What is it with the Normans and cavalry?

526
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:55,240
I mean, why did they get it,

527
00:37:55,240 --> 00:37:57,360
have horses and were such fantastic cavalrymen,

528
00:37:57,360 --> 00:37:58,960
where other people weren't?

529
00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:03,560
I think it comes down to the fact that they're in Europe,
530
00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:06,800
and so you get the influences from the East and it comes across.

531
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:10,320
The Spanish horses are all sort of bred along,

532
00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:14,360
whereas the Saxons, on their little island, have their native breeds,

533
00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:17,680
so this is a new type of horse on the battlefield.

534
00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:20,920
So, although the Saxons rode horses around and used them for farm work

535
00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:23,120
and stuff, they weren't as high-quality?

536
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:26,000
No, exactly. The native breeds you sort of see today

537
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:29,280
are very similar to the ones they would have had - short, stout,

538
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:32,840
mile after mile at this lovely amble and they can get from A to B,

539
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,760
but this is a very different type of horse altogether.

540
00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:37,480
Do you reckon you can show me how to do it?

541
00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:38,920
I'll give it a go, absolutely.

542
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:41,520
- If you get up on the horse...
- OK.
- ..get yourself ready,

543
00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:44,520
and then we'll show you the various ways

544
00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:47,440
of being able to use the lance at speed.

545
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:51,680
Their chief weapon was a sharpened spear,

546
00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:54,400
the forerunner of the medieval lance.

547
00:38:54,400 --> 00:38:58,480
So, pick it up. Heft it somewhere in the middle, get a feel for it.

548
00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:00,800
And then bring the point down towards me.

549
00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:04,120
Now you've got an overhand grip.

550
00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:07,400
If you wanted to attack, you'd extend the arm a bit,

551
00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:10,760
and you're using the stirrup and the back of the saddle

552
00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:14,480
to use the whole energy of that horse to drive it forward.

553
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,720
The other option is to swap your knuckles over so your knuckles

554
00:39:18,720 --> 00:39:21,840
are underneath, and now you'll find that you can come up

555
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:24,600
and you can stab on the off side, the nearside, stabbing down,

556
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:27,520
certainly if people are now trying to grab you from the saddle.

557
00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:32,160
Come on, let's go. Come on.

558
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:40,120
Oh!
559
00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:45,440
William knew he had a war machine to take on any king,

560
00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:46,800
if he needed to.

561
00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:49,920
THEY PRAY

562
00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:56,800
But in the 11th century,

563
00:39:56,800 --> 00:40:00,480
there was more to power than having an iron heart and a strong army.

564
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:05,360
All three warlords needed political connections.

565
00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:11,440
And very often these came through choosing the right wife.

566
00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:12,880
- Amen.
- Amen.

567
00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:18,800
Oh, yeah, I really do adore my wife, Matilda.

568
00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:21,800
She is tough and I trust her absolutely.

569
00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:26,240
But I have to admit that she also has political appeals.

570
00:40:26,240 --> 00:40:29,760
I need all the friends I can get

571
00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:35,000
and the father of Matilda is the Duke of Flanders.

572
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:38,800
Flanders is key strategically.

573
00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:40,200
It is rich.

574
00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:42,160
And Matilda is gorgeous.

575
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:45,120
So, essentially, what is not to like?

576
00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:49,240
Well, I'm not actually married in the eyes of the church like you are,

577
00:40:49,240 --> 00:40:53,600
but I have been with Edith for 20 years.

578
00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:56,240
We're married in the Danish tradition,

579
00:40:56,240 --> 00:40:59,760
which means that the Church doesn't actually bless it and recognise it,

580
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:04,800
but the majority of England do recognise it. It's very common.

581
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:07,840
Here's the news - I've got two wives.

582
00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:09,600
I found the first in Russia.

583
00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:11,080
She's called Elisiv.

584
00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:14,280
Very influential, very powerful Russian family.

585
00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:17,520
My second wife is from home here in Norway.

586
00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:18,760
She's called Tora.

587
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,800
She's from a very influential Norwegian family.

588
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:25,720
Now, both of these women bring me wealth, they bring me power,

589
00:41:25,720 --> 00:41:27,600
they bring me influence.

590
00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:31,400
Oh, I think that my wife brings more to the table

591
00:41:31,400 --> 00:41:33,520
than either of yours put together.

592
00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:36,920
Russia, Norway - what kind of significance do they have

593
00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:39,320
down here in the cockpit of power?

594
00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:40,720
Look at Flanders -

595
00:41:40,720 --> 00:41:43,600
controlling the narrowest point across the Channel.

596
00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:49,240
So, Flanders, Matilda, both of them are absolutely key to my plans.

597
00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:56,360
By 1066, William was 38 years old.

598
00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:58,080
He was in peak form.

599
00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:00,720
He'd been Duke of Normandy for 30 years.

600
00:42:00,720 --> 00:42:03,880
Now his duchy was strong and powerful,

601
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:06,720
his enemies and rivals defeated.

602
00:42:06,720 --> 00:42:10,080
Now, he was looking for new lands to conquer.
603
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:12,600
Above all, he wanted England.

604
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:27,000
'William responds to news of Harold's coronation immediately.

605
00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:31,200
'His envoy reaches London within days.'

606
00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:36,520
I bring a message from my lord, the Duke of Normandy.

607
00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:38,400
Oh.

608
00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:40,480
How is my dear friend?

609
00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:42,480
He is ill at ease.

610
00:42:43,720 --> 00:42:48,120
My lord wishes you to know his displeasure at recent events.

611
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:55,480
You must understand the unforeseen position my lord finds himself in.

612
00:42:59,080 --> 00:43:01,200
William says you are a usurper.

613
00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:05,960
That he is the legitimate heir to Edward's throne.

614
00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:09,040
He demands that you yield the kingdom to him.

615
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:12,600
What?

616
00:43:14,560 --> 00:43:16,640
And be his servant?

617
00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:20,840
My lord reminds you that you swore an oath to him
618
00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:23,960
and that he has a God-given right to the throne.

619
00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:29,120
My lord, Edward, God rest his soul, gave me his dying wish.

620
00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:34,600
Get out of my sight.

621
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:45,880
Bastard.

622
00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:55,640
Big mistake. William now made a momentous decision.

623
00:43:55,640 --> 00:43:58,160
If Harold wasn't going to relinquish the throne,

624
00:43:58,160 --> 00:43:59,880
William was going to go to war.

625
00:43:59,880 --> 00:44:01,880
He was going to raise an army,

626
00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:04,880
invade England and take the crown by force.

627
00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:08,320
This wasn't just something that William thought he could do,

628
00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:10,960
it was something he thought he had the right to do.

629
00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:14,480
Because William claimed that he'd been promised the throne of England

630
00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:16,960
not just once, but twice.

631
00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:20,440
First by King Edward back in 1051,

632
00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:25,560
and secondly by Harold himself just two years earlier in 1064.

633
00:44:29,720 --> 00:44:34,240
When the Vikings had ruled England 30 years earlier, Edward,

634
00:44:34,240 --> 00:44:37,840
then an Anglo-Saxon prince, had fled to Normandy,

635
00:44:37,840 --> 00:44:39,520
where he'd lived for 20 years.

636
00:44:41,080 --> 00:44:46,000
In 1051, as King, he'd considered William to be his successor.

637
00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:50,600
Much later, Harold had also been to Normandy,

638
00:44:50,600 --> 00:44:52,800
making the same pledge to William.

639
00:44:55,560 --> 00:44:58,680
Or at least, that's what William claimed.

640
00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:05,880
The Norman Chronicles tell us that

641
00:45:05,880 --> 00:45:09,360
in 1051 Edward did indeed promise the throne to William.

642
00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:12,720
Now in contrast, the English chronicles, unsurprisingly,

643
00:45:12,720 --> 00:45:14,760
don't say anything about this.

644
00:45:14,760 --> 00:45:18,280
But there is one interesting account about something that happened

645
00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:21,760
in 1051, because we're told in one version

646
00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:25,840
of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, that in this year...

647
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:29,040
SHE READS OLD ENGLISH

648
00:45:29,040 --> 00:45:32,320
"Then, immediately, Earl William came from across

649
00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:34,560
"the sea with a great troop of Frenchmen

650
00:45:34,560 --> 00:45:38,520
"and the King received him and as many of his men as pleased him.

651
00:45:38,520 --> 00:45:40,440
"And then he let him go again."

652
00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:43,120
So, we're told that there was a meeting between them,

653
00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:45,040
but we're not told any details.

654
00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:47,720
But it is, of course, a reasonable enough assumption

655
00:45:47,720 --> 00:45:50,760
that Edward must have received him for a reason,

656
00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:52,760
must have given him something.

657
00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:55,560
You can take my word for it,

658
00:45:55,560 --> 00:45:59,080
15 years ago Edward promised me the throne.

659
00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:00,680
He was 46 years old.

660
00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:03,520
He had no heir. I was the obvious choice.

661
00:46:03,520 --> 00:46:06,800
And a promise is a promise.
662
00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:09,080
You have got to be kidding me.

663
00:46:09,080 --> 00:46:10,840
This is the 11th century.

664
00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:13,920
15 years, that's practically a lifetime.

665
00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:17,880
If he did promise it to you, which I very much doubt,

666
00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:22,560
do you really think that a promise made all that time ago still stands?

667
00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:28,000
You're forgetting that you came to Normandy and you swore to support

668
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:33,280
my claim to the throne of England on the relics of saints.

669
00:46:33,280 --> 00:46:38,480
You swore it. And now you are going back on your oath which you swore

670
00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:41,280
- in the face of God.
- Oh, utter rubbish.

671
00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:43,080
I promised you nothing.

672
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:49,320
Harold had made an enemy of one of Europe's

673
00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:51,360
most feared military leaders.

674
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:53,280
Amen.

675
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:56,240
An enemy already planning Harold's destruction.

676
00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:05,280
But of course, William wasn't the only warlord

677
00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:07,360
hungry for the crown of England.

678
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:19,840
Norway.

679
00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:21,640
An ancient Viking heartland.

680
00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:25,200
The kingdom of Harold Hardrada.

681
00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:26,960
MEN SHOUT

682
00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:39,800
News of Edward's death and Harold's coronation would have travelled

683
00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:41,520
on ships like this.

684
00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:44,600
In the 11th century there were well-established trade routes,

685
00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:46,760
and one of them led up to Scandinavia.

686
00:47:46,760 --> 00:47:49,680
It would have taken about a day for a ship to go down the Thames

687
00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:52,200
and reach the open sea of the English Channel here.

688
00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:55,760
Then perhaps four or five days up the east coast of Britain

689
00:47:55,760 --> 00:47:58,880
to the Viking-held islands in Orkney and Shetland.

690
00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:01,800
Across to Norway, two days with a following wind,

691
00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:04,760
and a day in land to where we know Harold Hardrada was

692
00:48:04,760 --> 00:48:07,440
in the uplands of Norway, round about here.

693
00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:12,080
So we can assume that that news reached Harold on something like

694
00:48:12,080 --> 00:48:16,240
the 20th of January, perhaps ten days after it reached Duke William.

695
00:48:16,240 --> 00:48:18,440
We don't know how Harold took that news,

696
00:48:18,440 --> 00:48:21,400
but we do know that the ageing warrior was now well aware

697
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:24,280
who he'd have to fight if he was going to restore

698
00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:27,400
Viking control over England - he'd have to fight Harold.

699
00:48:31,120 --> 00:48:35,360
'Hardrada's royal camp high in the Norwegian uplands.

700
00:48:36,720 --> 00:48:41,640
'After years fighting overseas, Hardrada has to keep order at home

701
00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:44,440
'before he can turn to thoughts of invasion.'

702
00:48:49,840 --> 00:48:50,960
Einar...

703
00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:57,880
..you of the flailing sword will drive me from this country

704
00:48:57,880 --> 00:49:00,480
unless I can first persuade you...

705
00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:08,640
..to kiss my thin-lipped axe.
706
00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:11,440
Come on. Come on.

707
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:15,720
Kissy, kissy, kissy.

708
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:27,040
Hardrada had spent his youth fighting his way around the world,

709
00:49:27,040 --> 00:49:29,920
a sword for hire in wars in Sicily, Russia,

710
00:49:29,920 --> 00:49:32,240
Constantinople and the Holy Land.

711
00:49:32,240 --> 00:49:33,400
He loved killing.

712
00:49:33,400 --> 00:49:35,520
In fact, he wrote a poem about it.

713
00:49:35,520 --> 00:49:36,840
He wrote...

714
00:49:36,840 --> 00:49:38,640
I kill without compunction...

715
00:49:40,200 --> 00:49:42,120
..and remember all my killings.

716
00:49:43,960 --> 00:49:47,480
Treason must be scotched by fair means or foul

717
00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:49,720
before it overwhelms me.

718
00:49:51,400 --> 00:49:54,440
Hardrada writes poetry even on the battlefield.

719
00:49:54,440 --> 00:49:58,040
He knows that this is a way of creating his own mythology,

720
00:49:58,040 --> 00:50:02,520
of recording his great victories and triumphs for future generations.
721
00:50:02,520 --> 00:50:05,840
And like all good Vikings, Hardrada knows that the most

722
00:50:05,840 --> 00:50:08,640
important thing a man can leave behind after

723
00:50:08,640 --> 00:50:11,320
he's died is his reputation.

724
00:50:11,320 --> 00:50:14,920
Oak trees grow from acorns.

725
00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:18,240
I have caused the death of 13 of my enemies.

726
00:50:20,560 --> 00:50:24,240
Like Duke William, we're told by the sources that Hardrada

727
00:50:24,240 --> 00:50:27,480
was greedy for power and possessions.

728
00:50:27,480 --> 00:50:31,200
But there was something much deeper going on in his Viking soul.

729
00:50:31,200 --> 00:50:34,840
He'd failed to conquer Denmark, and like an ageing boxer,

730
00:50:34,840 --> 00:50:38,360
his time as a powerful, virile warrior was

731
00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:40,600
running out and he knew it.

732
00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:45,880
Unlike William, for Hardrada a conquest of England

733
00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:50,240
wasn't just about power, wealth and prestige,

734
00:50:50,240 --> 00:50:53,800
it was about creating an immortal Viking legend,

735
00:50:53,800 --> 00:50:55,640
one that would live on forever.

736
00:50:58,240 --> 00:51:01,120
I am 50 years old and by 11th-century standards

737
00:51:01,120 --> 00:51:02,600
that's kicking on a bit,

738
00:51:02,600 --> 00:51:05,480
so I've probably got one big conquest left in me.

739
00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:11,560
And I think England is going to be that conquest.

740
00:51:11,560 --> 00:51:15,440
Now, don't forget, historically, from a Viking point of view,

741
00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:19,440
England's just as much ours as it is the Anglo-Saxons'.

742
00:51:19,440 --> 00:51:24,120
Invading England is just what Vikings do, it's in our DNA.

743
00:51:24,120 --> 00:51:28,000
And I tell you this, if we invade, we'll head straight for the North.

744
00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:32,480
We'll come to a town like York, full of people with Viking ancestry,

745
00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:34,440
and we'll get a hero's welcome.

746
00:51:39,880 --> 00:51:42,520
'Harold's days of peace are numbered.

747
00:51:43,720 --> 00:51:46,520
'William is beginning to build an invasion force.

748
00:51:48,480 --> 00:51:52,040
'While Hardrada dreams of a great, immortal victory.

749
00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:58,040
'But Harald also faces a third enemy,

750
00:51:58,040 --> 00:52:00,080
'someone much closer to home.

751
00:52:02,080 --> 00:52:06,200
'As well as Gyrth, Harald has another brother

752
00:52:06,200 --> 00:52:08,080
'who's not quite so loyal.

753
00:52:10,440 --> 00:52:14,240
'The Earl of Northumbria, recently exiled from England.

754
00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:18,520
'His name is Tostig.

755
00:52:32,040 --> 00:52:36,320
'Just three weeks into Harold's reign and family betrayal

756
00:52:36,320 --> 00:52:38,840
'lands on the shores of Normandy.'

757
00:52:41,320 --> 00:52:44,480
My brother, he's a lying dog.

758
00:52:45,880 --> 00:52:48,720
You've come all this way to tell me what I already know?

759
00:52:48,720 --> 00:52:51,840
He betrayed me too, and I'm family.

760
00:52:54,560 --> 00:52:56,440
I've come here to bring him down.

761
00:52:57,600 --> 00:52:59,120
And why should I trust you?

762
00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:01,680
You share his blood.

763
00:53:03,040 --> 00:53:05,800
I can't help that. But I can help you.

764
00:53:06,920 --> 00:53:09,800
He's stolen my lands, he's stolen your crown.
765
00:53:11,360 --> 00:53:13,360
Together, we can destroy him.

766
00:53:23,600 --> 00:53:28,600
Tostig landing in Normandy was a stunning act of treason.

767
00:53:28,600 --> 00:53:32,760
Here was an English earl plotting with a Norman duke

768
00:53:32,760 --> 00:53:34,720
to destroy his own brother.

769
00:53:34,720 --> 00:53:37,680
It's only reported in one chronicle, but if it's true,

770
00:53:37,680 --> 00:53:41,800
it shows just how poisonous relations had become between Tostig

771
00:53:41,800 --> 00:53:43,720
and his brother Harold.

772
00:53:43,720 --> 00:53:48,720
It also shows just how fragile power could be in the 11th century.

773
00:53:50,200 --> 00:53:51,960
Tostig is a fascinating character.

774
00:53:51,960 --> 00:53:56,680
He was supposedly more handsome than Harold and braver than Harold

775
00:53:56,680 --> 00:53:58,800
and he's become Earl of Northumbria.

776
00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:03,400
But Tostig's rule in Northumbria was chaotic.

777
00:54:03,400 --> 00:54:07,760
He overtaxed the land, he oppressed the nobles...

778
00:54:07,760 --> 00:54:10,880
In fact, it's thought that he had three of the nobles of Northumbria

779
00:54:10,880 --> 00:54:15,200
assassinated, and it became too much for them and they rebelled
780
00:54:15,200 --> 00:54:16,600
and they marched south.

781
00:54:19,200 --> 00:54:20,800
Six months earlier,

782
00:54:20,800 --> 00:54:24,000
Tostig had forced Harold to make an unenviable decision.

783
00:54:26,520 --> 00:54:28,000
Harold has two choices.

784
00:54:29,600 --> 00:54:33,000
If he supports his brother, there is going to be a civil war.

785
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:35,880
Now, the English have learnt, if there's one thing the 11th century

786
00:54:35,880 --> 00:54:37,760
has taught them, it is if they fight each other,

787
00:54:37,760 --> 00:54:40,320
then the Vikings are going to invade and conquer them all.

788
00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:42,200
So there is a stand-off and Harold, I think,

789
00:54:42,200 --> 00:54:45,880
makes the wise choice that he has to, you know, sacrifice his brother,

790
00:54:45,880 --> 00:54:47,760
his brother has to go into exile.

791
00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:53,720
Tostig now hated his brother with every fibre of his being.

792
00:54:53,720 --> 00:54:56,400
He wanted his land back and he wanted revenge.

793
00:54:58,520 --> 00:55:02,240
Tostig's thirst for vengeance was so strong

794
00:55:02,240 --> 00:55:04,760
that he didn't stop at William.

795
00:55:04,760 --> 00:55:07,720
He wanted to gain the support of another great warlord.

796
00:55:10,600 --> 00:55:14,960
According to the Norse sagas, after his trip to Normandy,

797
00:55:14,960 --> 00:55:20,280
Harold's rebellious brother Tostig sailed 1,000 miles north to Norway

798
00:55:20,280 --> 00:55:22,040
to petition the Norwegian King.

799
00:55:26,440 --> 00:55:30,840
So, the black sheep has come to Norway.

800
00:55:33,080 --> 00:55:36,160
How can you be of any use to me?

801
00:55:36,160 --> 00:55:39,600
Most of the nobles in England hate my brother.

802
00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:43,520
They support me...

803
00:55:43,520 --> 00:55:45,000
and they will support you.

804
00:55:46,800 --> 00:55:48,240
They could make you king.

805
00:55:49,640 --> 00:55:51,120
Do I look like a fool?

806
00:55:52,480 --> 00:55:56,880
There was never born in Scandinavia a warrior to compare with you.

807
00:55:56,880 --> 00:56:00,160
But England is yours for the taking.

808
00:56:00,160 --> 00:56:03,520
Invade now and your name will live forever.

809
00:56:06,320 --> 00:56:08,920
In battle storm we seek no lee.

810
00:56:10,520 --> 00:56:13,760
With skulking head and bending knee...

811
00:56:19,200 --> 00:56:24,880
..I will out and carve my name in legend.

812
00:56:30,840 --> 00:56:34,560
'Hardrada and Tostig agreed to work together

813
00:56:34,560 --> 00:56:36,600
'to assemble an invasion force

814
00:56:36,600 --> 00:56:40,840
'and attack Harold's England in late summer, from the north.

815
00:56:43,280 --> 00:56:46,160
'Meanwhile, 1,000 miles to the south,

816
00:56:46,160 --> 00:56:49,640
'William's own preparations are already well underway.'

817
00:56:50,640 --> 00:56:52,000
By summer we'll be ready.

818
00:56:53,280 --> 00:56:56,800
If it is God's will, then his will will be done.

819
00:56:59,040 --> 00:57:02,200
'Right now, Harald knows nothing of either plot

820
00:57:02,200 --> 00:57:05,080
'being hatched from opposite ends of his kingdom.'

821
00:57:06,800 --> 00:57:09,840
Patience is half of happiness. King Edward used to say that.

822
00:57:10,840 --> 00:57:11,920
Wise words.

823
00:57:14,360 --> 00:57:18,160
The other half is a sharpened sword.
824
00:57:19,800 --> 00:57:21,520
Harold wasn't stupid.

825
00:57:21,520 --> 00:57:23,400
He was a canny warlord and he knew

826
00:57:23,400 --> 00:57:26,960
all too well the rules of 11th-century realpolitik.

827
00:57:26,960 --> 00:57:29,880
Now, just six weeks after his coronation,

828
00:57:29,880 --> 00:57:34,880
the new king must have known an attempt would be made to kill him

829
00:57:34,880 --> 00:57:37,600
and rip the crown from his bloody head.

830
00:57:37,600 --> 00:57:42,200
The question was, when would that attack come, and from where?

831
00:57:48,840 --> 00:57:52,440
Next time, family betrayal turns to war

832
00:57:52,440 --> 00:57:55,120
as Tostig attacks England's southern shores.

833
00:57:56,440 --> 00:58:00,200
While William raises a vast force of men and ships.

834
00:58:01,480 --> 00:58:05,560
And Harald fights a marauding Viking army for his life...

835
00:58:07,920 --> 00:58:09,600
..and his crown.