A Chronological History of Britain
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There are worse things than spending a holiday in Normandy.
And one of those things is spending a holiday in Normandy because you just lost your entire Kingdom to the Danes.
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England in 1013 was a Kingdom begging to be conquered. Decades of bad decisions have eroded its foundations and now it sat as a mere shadow of its former glory. It had none of the military prowess established by King AEthelstan. None of the political stability enjoyed under King Edgar. And none of the smart planning created by King Alfred.
Rather than being a focal point of European politics and a well governed island fortress this new England was decadent, weak, and dangerously vulnerable.
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So here we are. With two full companies of Jomsvikings laying waste to southern England… and in response, the nobility… the people tasked with defending the population and the Kingdom… decided that this was an excellent chance to fight among themselves, do a bit of pirating, and arrange a political marriage.
And at the same time, King AEthelred was seizing Wulfnoth Cild’s lands for himself. Because of course he was.
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AEthelred, for the first time in quite a while, had a chance for a breather. King Sweyn Forkbeard, having been paid a king’s ransom, had withdrawn his forces with a promise never to return.
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The Court of AEthelred had turned over three times during his reign. First, there was his regency council. Then, when he took full power he replaced his regency council with his young friends and corrupt enablers. Then the old guard reasserted itself, along with the powerful Wulf dynasty of the midlands in the 990s. And now, at 1006 it was turning over for a forth time. The old guard, having returned in what looks like an attempt to get the kingdom back on track, was now …legitimately really old. Queen AElfthryth’s faction was now dying out, and Uncle Ordwulf, Cousin AEthelweard, even Wulfric Spot are now dead and gone.
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When you go to your local grocery store there’s a pattern. You go down your usual aisles, grab your bread, your tea, that thing you know you’re not supposed to eat but do anyway because it is delicious and you have no self control.
And then, when you head to the register, something happens. You get in line. Right behind the person who was at the register right before you. You don’t know them, you don’t technically owe them anything. But you let them check out before you because they got in line first. And you can assume, most of the time, that the stranger behind you will do the same for you.
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The year 1002 was still 64 years away from 1066, but The House of Normandy had already begun a coup upon the Kingdom of England. The dynasty held only a minor Duchy, and for a fairly short amount of time, as it was only Duke Richard’s great grandfather Rollo who had established it. And in that time, there had been multiple points where it looked like the family would be ousted from even these comparatively minor holdings. Over the generations, the dynasty faced off with numerous powerful enemies: Flanders, England, and even the throne of France beefed with the Dukes of Normandy. And with such formidable enemies, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the Normans had faded into a footnote in history.
But they didn’t. And part of the reason for that is that they didn’t just have powerful enemies. They also had powerful allies. Scandinavain allies. And the Dukes knew how to wield them.
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Now that we’ve checked in with the rest of the world, let’s get back to our story…which lately hasn’t been going so well. In the space of 70 years the Kingdom went from a preeminent power in the West to little more than a viking hunting preserve.
By the year 1000, things had become so bad that the Viking armies were now just wintering on the island. The English nobles, unable to oust them, were essentially paying for the invader’s room and board via danegelds. Which were pulled from local peasantry. Essentially, the English rulers were so incompetent, they were pillaging their own countryside.
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It’s so easy to lose the forest for the trees. This show is a show about one small island which, even at this part of the story, is still at the edge of civilization. It is very easy to forget that there is a whole other world out there… and, it is a world that keeps turning and the events that are happening at this point in history all over the world shaped who we are today.
It’s the year 1000. And before we return to our story, we are going to check in briefly with the rest of the world. What follows isn’t comprehensive, but it is intended to help place the events of our story in the context of the bigger, human, story.