Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Norman Conquest

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

On October 14, 1066, England changed forever.  Forces from Normandy, France, defeated the English King and changed life in England forever.  It affected everyone from the aristocracy down to the commoners, and it even trickled down to the very language spoken in the country itself.  In fact, the events of 1066 can still be seen and felt today.  Learn more about the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Newspapers.com Get 20% off your subscription to Newspapers.com Mint Mobile Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/eed Quince Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! Stitch Fix Go to stitchfix.com/everywhere to have a stylist help you look your best Tourist Office of Spain Plan your next adventure at Spain.info  Stash Go to get.stash.com/EVERYTHING to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures. Subscribe to the podcast!  https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Austin Oetken & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On October 14, 1066, England changed forever. Forces led by William of Normandy sailed from France and defeated the king of England, putting the country on a radically different trajectory. It affected everyone from the aristocracy down to the commoners, and it even trickled down to the very language spoken in the country itself. In fact, the events of 1066, almost a thousand years ago, can still be clearly seen and felt today. Learn more about the Battle of Hastings and the Normandy's,

on the Norman Conquest on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. The genesis of this episode comes from the fact.

that I've mentioned the Norman Conquest so many times that I figured it was time to dedicate an entire episode to the subject. The events of 1066 had an outsized impact on the British Isles and eventually the world. To understand the events of that year, we have to take a look at what was happening in England before the Norman conquest. By the early 11th century,

England had developed into a relatively centralized Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Edward the Confessor, who took the throne in 1042, ruled over a land with established administrative systems, a tax structure called the Dengeld, and a powerful nobility organized under Earls. The English economy was primarily agricultural with a growing network of towns and training connections across northern Europe. And just as a note, Edward the Confessor is not given a number with his name. By convention, numbering kings starts after the Norman conquest, four kings who had names both before and after the conquest.

Edward I was born over 200 years after Edward the Confessor, and Edward the Confessor was preceded on the throne by Edward the Elder and Edward the Martyr. Anyways, Edward the Confessor didn't have an heir, and this always causes huge problems in any monarchy because it results in competing claims to the throne. When Edward died on January 5, 1066, that is exactly what happened. There were four different claimants to the English throne. The first was Harold Godwinson, the Earl of Wessex, and the brother-in-law of Edward through his sister Edith.

The second was William of Normandy, Normandy being the region in France along the Atlantic Ocean that was settled by Vikings in the 10th century. The third was Harold Hardrada, who was the king of Norway. And the final claimant was Edgar Aetheling, Edward's younger grandnephew with a very tenuous blood claim to the throne. When Edward died, the first claimant, Harold Godwinson arguably had the best hand to play. He was chosen by the Anglo-Saxon Wittnijmont, or Council of Nobles, to become king and was crowned Harold II shortly thereafter.

Now, you might be wondering why I just said the king numbering system began after the Norman conquest, but Harold is considered the second because there have been no Harold's sense. This infuriated William of Normandy. William claimed that Edward had once promised him the throne when Edward was exiled to Normandy, and that Harold had even sworn an oath to support William while he was in Normandy years earlier. William considered Harold's coronation an act of treachery. At the same time, Harold Hardrada of Norway, asserting a claim based on a prior treaty between earlier kings, also set his sights on the English crown.

In 1066, Harold Hardrada invaded England from the north, aided by Harold. Godwinson's estranged brother, Toestig. They were initially successful defeating English forces at the Battle of Fulford near York, but Harold Godwinson swiftly marched his army north and decisively defeated the invaders at the Battle of Stamford Bridge on September 25, 1066, killing both Harold Hardrada and his brother. Now there were only three claimants to the throne. No sooner had King Harold secured the north than William of Normandy made his move. William had spent months gathering an invasion force of approximately 7,000 men and 700 ships. With a papal blessing that was formalized in a papal banner that was carried into battle,

William landed at Pevensey Bay on September 28, 1066, just days after King Harold II's victory at Stamford Bridge. His force included cavalry, archers, and infantry. This forced Harold to turn south, exhausting his already battle-worn arms. Army. He marched his Army approximately 250 miles in about two weeks, which was an impressive feat of medieval logistics. October 14, 1066, Harold's Army met Williams on Senlack Hill near the town of Hastings in Southeast England. King Harold's Army, numbering an estimated 7 to 8,000 men, was composed primarily of two groups. The professional soldiers known as House Carls and the local militia known as the Feared. The House Carls were an elite

infantry armed with long-handled battle axes and protected by chain mail or round or kite-shaped shields. They formed the core of Harold's force. Disciplined and trained, they were stationed in the center of the line. Surrounding them were the fearedmen, levied from the shires that were less experienced and often poorly equipped, typically bearing spears, javelins, and basic armor, or no armor at all. The English army deployed at the ridge of Senlac Hill in a tight, dense formation known as the shield wall, a defensive line several ranks deep, meant to repel frontal assaults. The army was entirely composed of infantry, with no cavalry and no organized archery units, relying instead on the strength and discipline of the shield wall to withstand attacks.

Williams' Norman Army, which was roughly equal in size to heralds, was more diverse and organized into three main divisions based on regional origin. On the left flank stood the Bretons, possibly under the command of the army. of Count Allen of Brittany. In the center, William himself led the Norman contingent, accompanied by his half-brother Bishop Odo of Bayou and some of his most experienced knights in infantry. On the right flank were the Flemish and Franco-Continental forces, likely under the command of Eustace II of Boulogne. William's army utilized a combined arms approach, featuring archers and crossbowmen in the front ranks, infantry behind them, and heavy armored cavalry

position in the rear. The battle plan called for archers to initiate combat, followed by infantry assaults, and then cavalry charges to exploit weaknesses in the English lines. William's forces repeatedly attacked uphill against the English shield wall, employing tactics such as feigned retreats to draw part of the English line out of position. As the day wore on, the English shield wall gradually weakened. The decisive moment came when King Harold was killed. Accounts differ on whether he was killed by an arrow to the eye, as is depicted in the bio tapestry, or by Norman Knights. But with their king dead, the English forces collapsed. Following his victory, William moved cautiously, securing Dover and Canterbury, before approaching London. Initially, the English resistance

rallied around Edgar Aethling, the last claimant to the throne, but William's strategic movements and willingness to ravage the countryside convinced London to surrender. William was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. Although the ceremony ended in chaos when Norman guards, mistaking English cheers for an attack, set fire to nearby houses. At the coronation, Edgar Aethling, along with other English nobles, submitted to him and pledged their loyalty. After William's victory at Hastings, his control over much of England was tenuous, especially

in the north, where loyalty to the Anglo-Saxon royal line still remained strong. In 1069, a major uprising erupted around the city of York, fueled by discontented Anglo-Saxon nobles, and reinforced by a fleet of Danish invaders who had landed in the Humber Estuary. William responded with overwhelming force. Known as the herring of the north, it was a brutal military campaign carried out in the winter of 1069 and 1070. After suppressing the rebellion at York, William initiated a systematic campaign of destruction across York. in parts of Northumbria. His forces burned villages, slaughtered livestock, destroyed crops, and salted the earth to render the land infertile. The objective was not merely to defeat the

rebels, but to eliminate the possibility of future uprisings by depriving the region of the means to support a resistance. Chronicleers reported that tens of thousands of people perished, either from violence or starvation. Entire regions were left depopulated and desolate for years. years afterwards. Herwood the Wakes' resistance in the Fens was one of the most famous episodes of Anglo-Saxon rebellion against Norman rule following the conquest of 1066. Centered around the marshy region of the East Anglican Fens, the resistance occurred between 1070 and 1071. Hareward, who's often depicted as a folk hero and freedom fighter in later legends, was likely a member of the local Anglo-Saxon nobility who had been dispossessed by the Normans.

His early life is obscure and shrouded in myth, but contemporary and near-contemporary sources suggest he was active as a guerrilla leader against Norman forces. He gained notoriety when he led a band of rebels in sacking the Norman Abbey at Peterborough in 1070. The Abbey had recently been taken over by Norman clergy, and Harward's attack was both symbolic and practical. It was a blow against Norman religious authority and a raid to see supplies and treasure. After this, Herwood and his followers took refuge in the Isle of Ely, a naturally defensible area surrounded by dense marshland and waterways. There they were joined by other rebels, including Earl Morcar, one of the last prominent Anglo-Saxon nobles not yet subdued.

The resistance at Ely became the final stronghold of organized English opposition to Norman rule. William responded decisively. He launched a campaign to subdue the rebels, constructing causeways, and possibly even bring bringing in flat-bottom boats to navigate the marshes and besieged the island. Despite the region's difficult terrain, Norman forces eventually penetrated Ely in 1071, aided by betrayal or bribery from within the resistance. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William also undertook a systematic replacement of the English nobility with Norman and other continental lords, reshaping the social and political

structure of the entire kingdom. Initially, William claimed that he would rule as the rightful successor to Edward the confessor, and in the first few months after Hastings, he confirmed some English nobles in their positions. However, repeated rebellions in the years following his coronation convinced William that the Anglo-Saxon elite could not be trusted to remain loyal. In response, William confiscated vast amounts of land from English nobles, either because they had fought against him or because he claimed that they had forfeited their right through rebellion intertreezen. By around 1075, nearly all significant English landowners had been displaced. William redistributed their lands to his Norman followers, creating a new aristocracy loyal to

him personally. This included powerful barons, knights, and church officials who had fought for him or supported his cause. In many cases, these Normans were granted estates spread out across different regions of England, a deliberate strategy to prevent them from building independent power bases. By the time of the doomsday book in 1086, which was a giant survey of the kingdom, it was clear that over 90% of English land was in Norman hands, and the old Anglo-Saxon ruling class had effectively vanished. The Norman conquest of 1066 had a profound and lasting impact on English law, culture, and language. It reshaped the kingdom in fundamental ways and marked the beginning of a new era in English history. The Norman Conquest introduced the feudal system to England,

reorganizing society around landholding and military service. William claimed all land and distributed to loyal followers, centralizing power under the crown. While preserving some Anglo-Saxon customs like trial by jury, he merged them with Norman practices, particularly in land and inherits. inheritance law, creating a hybrid legal tradition that evolved into English common law. Culturally, the Normans brought continental styles in architecture, religion, and governance. Romanesque buildings replaced Anglo-Saxon structures and church reforms, aligned England more closely with Rome, replacing native clergy with Norman bishops. The Bayou tapestry is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 meters long that visually tells the story of the

Norman conquest of England. It was created in the 11th century and, is on display in Bayou France today. Linguistically, Norman French became the language of the elite and blended with old English over time giving rise to Middle English, a topic that I covered in a previous episode. Moreover, since William the Conqueror, every single English monarch and later British monarch has been a descendant of William. Granted, sometimes the lines of descent are complex, but every king and queen can trace their lineage to William, even if they had to go to Germany to find one.

The Norman Conquest totally changed England. Everything you probably think about England came about directly or indirectly because of the events in the year 1066. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Oakden and Cameron Kiefer. I want to thank everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps me. make this podcast possible.

I'd also like to thank all the members of the Everything Everywhere community who are active on the Facebook group and the Discord server. If you'd like to join in the discussion, there are links to both in the show notes. And as always, if you leave a review or send me a boostagram, you two can have it read on the show.