1066
And now for something completely interesting...
Click here to view Simon Schama discussing
The Battle of Hastings
(from the BBC series "A History of Britain")
Real people, real stories and clips from your favourite BBC History programmes.
Foreword
There are plenty of good historical accounts of the Battle of
Hastings. This is not one of them. This is a fictional account and,
hopefully, a good little story.
The main difficulty was in attacking the real subject, which
was the series of manslaughters on a grand scale which the main
players conducted with such relish. At the end of the first
millenium, noblemen involved in war were nothing but savage
killers. They were the worst of people, yet they were our own
ancestors. And at the end of the second millenium, the apples have
not fallen far from the tree.
A Really Long Time Ago
...in the days of Charlemagne, there was a Swede called
Ragnar, and his son was called Sigurd Snake-in-eye .
The grandson of Sigurd Snake-in-eye Ragnar sson was
Glumra Eystein the Noisy.
The grandson of Glumra Eystein the Noisy was the Viking
chieftain, Hrolfe the Walker, who seized northern France and
created the North-man Duchy (Nor mand y).
Hrolfe the Walker s great great great grandson was William
the Bastard, the Duke of Normandy.
When William was young, his ambition exceeded his
inheritance, which was Normandy. As it happened, the middle
aged English prince, Edward the Confessor, was in exile there as
his guest, while their Danish relatives held captive the throne of
England.
Seeing that the childless Prince was not interested in loving
women, young William encouraged the future King Edward to
appoint him his heir, if Edward remained childless.
Thirty years later, even though he had taken a wife, the
English King Edward the Confessor did indeed die without any
children to succeed him. Without hesitation, the now middle-aged
Duke, William the Bastard, immediately claimed the English
throne, and he had the greedy and total support of all the Barons of
his Nor'man host.
However, the Queen's brother, Harold, had another head in
mind for the Crown of England... his own.
To continue with the fictionalized story of 1066, carry on to
The Stories of Paul the Elder: part ten
TIMELINE
[ Main Page | Previous Page | Next Page ]
And now for something completely interesting...
Click here to view Simon Schama discussing
The Battle of Hastings (from the BBC series "A History of Britain")
Real people, real stories and clips from your favourite BBC History programmes.
Foreword
There are plenty of good historical accounts of the Battle of
Hastings. This is not one of them. This is a fictional account and,
hopefully, a good little story.
The main difficulty was in attacking the real subject, which
was the series of manslaughters on a grand scale which the main
players conducted with such relish. At the end of the first
millenium, noblemen involved in war were nothing but savage
killers. They were the worst of people, yet they were our own
ancestors. And at the end of the second millenium, the apples have
not fallen far from the tree.
A Really Long Time Ago
...in the days of Charlemagne, there was a Swede called
Ragnar, and his son was called Sigurd Snake-in-eye .
The grandson of Sigurd Snake-in-eye Ragnar sson was
Glumra Eystein the Noisy.
The grandson of Glumra Eystein the Noisy was the Viking
chieftain, Hrolfe the Walker, who seized northern France and
created the North-man Duchy (Nor mand y).
Hrolfe the Walker s great great great grandson was William
the Bastard, the Duke of Normandy.
When William was young, his ambition exceeded his
inheritance, which was Normandy. As it happened, the middle
aged English prince, Edward the Confessor, was in exile there as
his guest, while their Danish relatives held captive the throne of
England.
Seeing that the childless Prince was not interested in loving
women, young William encouraged the future King Edward to
appoint him his heir, if Edward remained childless.
Thirty years later, even though he had taken a wife, the
English King Edward the Confessor did indeed die without any
children to succeed him. Without hesitation, the now middle-aged
Duke, William the Bastard, immediately claimed the English
throne, and he had the greedy and total support of all the Barons of
his Nor'man host.
However, the Queen's brother, Harold, had another head in
mind for the Crown of England... his own.
Hastings. This is not one of them. This is a fictional account and,
hopefully, a good little story.
The main difficulty was in attacking the real subject, which
was the series of manslaughters on a grand scale which the main
players conducted with such relish. At the end of the first
millenium, noblemen involved in war were nothing but savage
killers. They were the worst of people, yet they were our own
ancestors. And at the end of the second millenium, the apples have
not fallen far from the tree.
A Really Long Time Ago
...in the days of Charlemagne, there was a Swede called
Ragnar, and his son was called Sigurd Snake-in-eye .
The grandson of Sigurd Snake-in-eye Ragnar sson was
Glumra Eystein the Noisy.
The grandson of Glumra Eystein the Noisy was the Viking
chieftain, Hrolfe the Walker, who seized northern France and
created the North-man Duchy (Nor mand y).
Hrolfe the Walker s great great great grandson was William
the Bastard, the Duke of Normandy.
When William was young, his ambition exceeded his
inheritance, which was Normandy. As it happened, the middle
aged English prince, Edward the Confessor, was in exile there as
his guest, while their Danish relatives held captive the throne of
England.
Seeing that the childless Prince was not interested in loving
women, young William encouraged the future King Edward to
appoint him his heir, if Edward remained childless.
Thirty years later, even though he had taken a wife, the
English King Edward the Confessor did indeed die without any
children to succeed him. Without hesitation, the now middle-aged
Duke, William the Bastard, immediately claimed the English
throne, and he had the greedy and total support of all the Barons of
his Nor'man host.
However, the Queen's brother, Harold, had another head in
mind for the Crown of England... his own.
Ragnar, and his son was called Sigurd Snake-in-eye .
The grandson of Sigurd Snake-in-eye Ragnar sson was
Glumra Eystein the Noisy.
The grandson of Glumra Eystein the Noisy was the Viking
chieftain, Hrolfe the Walker, who seized northern France and
created the North-man Duchy (Nor mand y).
Hrolfe the Walker s great great great grandson was William
the Bastard, the Duke of Normandy.
When William was young, his ambition exceeded his
inheritance, which was Normandy. As it happened, the middle
aged English prince, Edward the Confessor, was in exile there as
his guest, while their Danish relatives held captive the throne of
England.
Seeing that the childless Prince was not interested in loving
women, young William encouraged the future King Edward to
appoint him his heir, if Edward remained childless.
Thirty years later, even though he had taken a wife, the
English King Edward the Confessor did indeed die without any
children to succeed him. Without hesitation, the now middle-aged
Duke, William the Bastard, immediately claimed the English
throne, and he had the greedy and total support of all the Barons of
his Nor'man host.
However, the Queen's brother, Harold, had another head in
mind for the Crown of England... his own.
To continue with the fictionalized story of 1066, carry on to
The Stories of Paul the Elder: part ten
| TIMELINE |
[ Main Page | Previous Page | Next Page ]