Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The Battle of Hastings had been brutal – even for the Normans. The invading army had suffered terrible losses.

A Chronological History of Britain

Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The Battle of Hastings had been brutal – even for the Normans. The invading army had suffered terrible losses.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Here is how you probably heard the story of the Battle of Hastings. William the Conqueror boarded a ship, won a battle at Hastings, and was crowned King.
Kingdom. Conqueror. Conquered.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Chaos.
The orderly rhythm of attacks… and the steady wall of the war hedge had dissolved, and it was replaced by a raging melee.



Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Stamford Bridge had been a nightmare. Thousands of dead… untold numbers of wounded. And the fallout was just beginning. All over Britain, all over Europe, families would slowly be learning the fate of their loved ones. Word was spreading across England and up to Orkney. Out to Flanders, and Norway.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download
King Harold, his Huscarls, and the fyrd of Wessex were driving north as fast as they could.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The shores of Saint Valery must have been quite the sight. Looking at the records, which discuss the size of this fleet and other notes that let us estimate the size of the original fleet launched from the River Dives, and comparing those to the records of the fleet following it’s mooring at Saint Valery…historians estimate William lost somewhere in the region of 100 ships. Some were shipwrecked. But others would have just deserted.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download
We left off in the Court of Harald Hardrada.
And you probably feel like you know a lot about this man by now. There’s the stories about the empress, and his time as a Varagian, and about his reputation as a seductive warrior poet. And all of the “oh my god this guy is hot” stories really were circulating around him… Like, if you were going to cast Harald Hardrada for your 1066 movie, you would probably cast him with Jason Momoa. But Harald was a person, and while the stories about Harald’s sex appeal are hilariously awesome (which is why I often bring them up), the fact was that Harald had many more sides to him.
