Category: Storyline

Every episode of The British History Podcast that moves the story forward in a chronological way.

339 – Cnut the Conqueror

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It’s been a strange few years.

The fall of the House of Wessex and the rise of Cnut looks like a simple story of conquest. After all, it’s right there in the title. Virtually every book on this era has a chapter called “The Conquest of England.” And for good reason… Cnut /was/ a conqueror. And conquest, at least in the popular imagination, is a simple story of military domination. Of soldiers and sieges, where the biggest army and the best tactics win the day.

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335 – Acts of Spasmodic Violence

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Morcar and Sigeferth were under a lot of stress.

These two noble brothers from the North had only just managed to join the Wulf dynasty through Sigeferht’s marriage to Ealdgyth, the niece of the powerful Ealdorman AElfhelm of York and Wulfric Spot. And that really should have been a smart move, given how powerful that family was.

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333 – The Conquest of England

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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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332 – The Jomsvikings

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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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329 – Forkbeard

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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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328 – The St Brice’s Day Massacre

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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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327 – Sail Away Sail Away Sail Away

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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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325 – From Bad to Worse

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When we left off, England was reforming its legal structure.

Now, law isn’t known for being a sexy subject…neither are lawyers for that matter. But law shapes our societies in ways that are so fundamental that they are often invisible to us. And these reforms are no exception. These codes go on to transform English life.