1 00:00:02,240 --> 00:00:05,400 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, everybody. We have gotten a few notes from 2 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:07,640 Speaker 1: listeners lately who have told us they would like to 3 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:10,960 Speaker 1: hear more episodes about events rather than people, so we 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: have gone into the archive today for the Battle of Hastings, 5 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:19,120 Speaker 1: which first came out in January. Also, our listener suggestion 6 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 1: list has way more people than events, the at least 7 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:25,200 Speaker 1: five times as many people as events, so if events 8 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: are more your bag, feel free to suggest something that 9 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:29,639 Speaker 1: you would like to hear about. We are as always 10 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:35,640 Speaker 1: at History Podcast at how stuff works dot com. Enjoy 11 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,159 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Missed in History Class, a production 12 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome 13 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,160 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Chasey V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. 14 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: I discovered when we talked about the Hessian I kind 15 00:00:56,080 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 1: of like talking about battles. I know I did cry 16 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: blood lust until just now. So today we're going to 17 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:06,400 Speaker 1: talk about a battle that long time listeners may remember 18 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:08,840 Speaker 1: a little bit about thanks to our episode on the 19 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:11,960 Speaker 1: Baiou Tapestry, which was hosted by Sarah and Dablina back 20 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,559 Speaker 1: in two thousand eleven. The Bayou Tapestry, which is really 21 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 1: a piece of embroidery and not a tapestry is a 22 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:21,559 Speaker 1: visual account of the Battle of Hastings and the events 23 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: that led up to it. So if you know anything 24 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:27,679 Speaker 1: at all about European history, you can probably at least 25 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: boil the Battle of Hastings down to a sentence, which 26 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:33,759 Speaker 1: is that the Normans invaded England in ten sixty six 27 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: and their victory ended the Anglo Saxon phase of English history. 28 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: If you actually grew up in England, you probably know 29 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:43,600 Speaker 1: a whole whole lot more about it than that. It 30 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: tends to be something that's covered extensively, uh in English schools, 31 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: because it is so central to the history of England. Yeah, 32 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: and it's one of those things where sadly, when you 33 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 1: mentioned it, at least when I mentioned it to most 34 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: people that I know, and I'll say, oh, Battle of Hastings, 35 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: they will do what I have done previously in my 36 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: life on ten sixty six, and that's the one thing 37 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: they remember. Yes, So yeah, I I had that exact 38 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: conversation with the boyfriend where I said, we're gonna talk 39 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 1: about the Battle of Hastings and he said, oh, ten 40 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: sixty six, husband as well, and and I said yes, 41 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:16,760 Speaker 1: and He's like, we won, right, And I said, you 42 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: don't know what? Who is the we? In this case? 43 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: We had almost an identical conversation at our house. So so, 44 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: just like with our recent episode on the Hessians, where 45 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: people can boil down the Hessians to a sentence that's 46 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: not really indicative of what actually happened to that one 47 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: sentence description does not do the whole battle of Hastings justice. 48 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 1: So today we're gonna look at that in a lot 49 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:43,640 Speaker 1: more detail, including lots of stuff that's not covered in 50 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: the Baiou Tapestry episode. Yeah, because that's a lot to 51 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:50,640 Speaker 1: cover in one piece of sewing. Well, but it's a 52 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: very long piece of sewing. And now I think of 53 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: the Futurama episode where they kind of did a spoof 54 00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: of it that's funny about invading a spider play in it, 55 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:02,919 Speaker 1: and they were weaving the tapestry from the silk of 56 00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:06,520 Speaker 1: the spiders as the battle was happening. Wow, I need 57 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: to go watch that. I love my Futurama. There's no 58 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: secret there. So first though, we're going to get back 59 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:16,639 Speaker 1: to history and talk about the backstory on this little ditty, 60 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: and we have to go back a little bit of 61 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 1: a ways to get a feel for what was really 62 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: going on. When the Normans hopped into the picture and 63 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: invaded In the fifth century, Germanic people's known as the Angles, 64 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:30,000 Speaker 1: the Saxons and the Jutes began to immigrate to what 65 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: we now know as England, and at the time this 66 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: area was mostly inhabited by Celts. As the Germanic people's 67 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: moved in, they pushed the Celts into what we would 68 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: now call Scotland, Wales and Ireland. So the word England 69 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: comes from these Germanic peoples. It actually means land of Angles. 70 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: By the eighth century, Christianity had really started to spread 71 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: through a lot of England and people from Denmark had 72 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 1: also started to move into the area as well, and 73 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,680 Speaker 1: so with all of these influences, the Land language kind 74 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: of evolved, and so what we now know as Old English. 75 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: So at this point England was a mostly Christian nation 76 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 1: and it mostly spoke one language, although there were several 77 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: distinct dialects, and it was ruled by a king with 78 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 1: earls who were responsible for specific regions within the kingdom. 79 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: And the Vikings started invading Britain in the ninth century 80 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: and over the span of roughly a hundred and fifty 81 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: years Vikings conquered a lot of England, but then the 82 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:33,119 Speaker 1: Anglo Saxons UH living in Wessex, led by Alfred the Great, 83 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: staved them off and started pushing them back out again. 84 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: In the process, they were honing their battle abilities and 85 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 1: really making the Anglo Saxon world a power to be 86 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: reckoned with on its own. After this point there was 87 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:50,119 Speaker 1: a period of relative calm which lasted about fifty years 88 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: before the Vikings came back and started up a new 89 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: cycle of pillaging and plundering and then retreating back to 90 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: where they came from before coming back for more pillaging 91 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:03,480 Speaker 1: and wondering. It sounds very exciting, but it was actually 92 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: quite dangerous. Well, yes, often exciting things are uh, and 93 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: this was kind of the state of things when one 94 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: of Alfred the Great's direct descendants, Edward, entered the picture. 95 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: And today we know of Edward as Edward the Confessor, 96 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:20,039 Speaker 1: but that was a name he was given about a 97 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: hundred years after his death, when the Pope recognized him 98 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: as a saint. So Edward was born in about one 99 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,080 Speaker 1: thousand and three, and because of all these ongoing Viking attacks, 100 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 1: he and his family took refuge in Normandy for a 101 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 1: number of years, and there they naturally built a lot 102 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,480 Speaker 1: of ties to Norman society, so they made a lot 103 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: of friends there were influenced in their politics while they 104 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: were living there. It took several failed attempts, but Edward 105 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 1: finally returned to England and became king in ten forty two, 106 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: and he brought a lot of Norman advisors and kind 107 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: of Norman politics along with him, and Edward marrying a 108 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,360 Speaker 1: woman named Edith, although they had children, so this left 109 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: a question of who the heir was going to be. 110 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:06,839 Speaker 1: And there's no written account of exactly what transpired there, 111 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: but the general historical consensus is that in March of 112 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 1: ten fifty one he announced it a council meeting that 113 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 1: he wanted his kinsman William of Normandy, to take the 114 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: throne after his death. This did not sit at all 115 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: well with a guy named Godwine, who was the Earl 116 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: of Wessex and Edith's father, so Edwards father in law. 117 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:29,479 Speaker 1: He had actually been a favorite to become the king 118 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: himself and was hoping to see one of his own 119 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,800 Speaker 1: children or grandchildren eventually on the throne, and the top 120 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:38,600 Speaker 1: of these own aspirations of power that he had. He 121 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:41,720 Speaker 1: really was a legitimately powerful person, and he had a 122 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: much stronger backing than Edward did among the other leaders 123 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:49,720 Speaker 1: of England, and this tension between Godwine and the king 124 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 1: really took England to the brink of a civil war. 125 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:57,159 Speaker 1: But eventually Edward outlawed Godwine after he refused to punish 126 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: the people of Dover, which fell under his earl him 127 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: for an attack on Edward's brother in law, and Godwine 128 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: and his sons and most of his family fled to 129 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: Flanders and Ireland, and then Edward banished his wife to 130 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 1: a nunnery. It seems kind of ruthless on Edward's part, 131 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: didn't want anything to do with those people anymore. Yes, 132 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:18,400 Speaker 1: that's like a brutal divorce at that point, it is. 133 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: And and he also in the aftermath made kind of 134 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: a critical mistake. He got rid of a tax that 135 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:28,640 Speaker 1: had been used to fund a mercenary naval fleet. The 136 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: idea was that he was basically giving some everyone who 137 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: was being taxed a tax break, and he probably thought 138 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 1: that if he really needed an army or a naval force, 139 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: that he could just call it up because he was 140 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:43,400 Speaker 1: the king um and in a lot of circumstances that 141 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:48,000 Speaker 1: probably would have worked. But that unfortunately or fortunately, depending 142 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:50,760 Speaker 1: on whose side you're on, meant that when Godwine came 143 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: back across the channel with his own fleet in ten 144 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: fifty two, Edward did not have a force ready to 145 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: fight him off. And on top of Edward not having 146 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: enough manpower to resist Godwine's attack, public sentiment was pretty 147 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: firmly on Godwine's side at this point. People just did 148 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,000 Speaker 1: not like the idea of a Norman line of succession, 149 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: and they didn't even like how many Normans the king 150 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: had among his advisers. So Edward was basically politically forced 151 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:24,000 Speaker 1: to pardon Godwine and his family and they once again 152 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: took up their positions of power in England. So when 153 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: Godwine died, his son, who was known as Harold Godwine's 154 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: and continued to be a very powerful figure in England. 155 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:37,960 Speaker 1: And this would turn out to be a problem when 156 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 1: it came back around to the line of succession. So 157 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:45,560 Speaker 1: now we're going to hop into the Norman back story 158 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 1: on it. Yes, uh So, over in Normandy William was Earl, 159 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:53,920 Speaker 1: his wife was Matilda of Flanders, and Flanders in England 160 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:57,040 Speaker 1: were not on terrific terms. Uh. This may have been 161 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,160 Speaker 1: one of the reasons why Edward promised the throne to William, 162 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:02,800 Speaker 1: to help keep him in line and discourage him from 163 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: lining up with Flanders against him. But thanks to this 164 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,360 Speaker 1: whole idea that he was being promised to become the 165 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 1: King of England and his marriage to Matilda of Flanders, 166 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: Henry the First of France saw William as a really 167 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:21,760 Speaker 1: huge threat. So William had to fend off multiple invasions 168 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:25,440 Speaker 1: from France and its allies during the ten fifties. And 169 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: it was really only after William had a particularly decisive 170 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:32,200 Speaker 1: victory against them, uh, that France and its allies left 171 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 1: William alone. And only after his major rivals died did 172 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:38,839 Speaker 1: he really seem to get any rest. He was pretty 173 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:42,520 Speaker 1: much constantly having to fend off one attack after another. Yeah, 174 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:46,120 Speaker 1: that brings us back to Harold, and about ten fifty 175 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: four or ten fifty five, Harold visited Normandy because of 176 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: a storm. He actually wound up landing in Flanders and 177 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 1: was taken prisoner at first, and William had to come 178 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:58,199 Speaker 1: and secure his release. And at some point during this 179 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:02,600 Speaker 1: little excursion, for reasons that different accounts report, completely differently. 180 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:05,960 Speaker 1: Harold swore an oath to honor Williams claim to the 181 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: throne once Edward died. Norman writers say that Edward had 182 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: sent Harold specifically for this purpose, but English sources either 183 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,959 Speaker 1: don't reference it at all, or they say that Harold 184 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 1: was in Normandy to secure the release of some of 185 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:23,440 Speaker 1: his kin from imprisonment. So there's a little bit of 186 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 1: disagreement about whether or not there was intrigue in the 187 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: mix at this point. This is it's a thousand almost 188 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:34,640 Speaker 1: years ago, and both sides writing about it definitely have 189 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: an agenda. But either way, the sources all pretty much 190 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:42,680 Speaker 1: agree that Harold swore to uphold William's claim to the throne, 191 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 1: and then he went back from Normandy across the English 192 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: Channel to England in about ten sixty five. So we're 193 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:54,440 Speaker 1: coming up on the happenings. Uh So, at this point 194 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:58,440 Speaker 1: the stage seems to be set for one would hope 195 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: a fairly smooth succession. Edward the Confessor has promised the 196 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 1: throne to William of Normandy, and the surviving person with 197 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:08,719 Speaker 1: the next strongest claim to the throne, Harold Godwinson, has 198 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:12,120 Speaker 1: sworn an oath to honor Edward's decree. It seems like 199 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:14,559 Speaker 1: it should be cool. It does. There there's a third 200 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:16,240 Speaker 1: person with kind of a tide to the throne. He 201 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:18,720 Speaker 1: will talk about a little bit later, but at this 202 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:23,280 Speaker 1: point it's really between uh William and Harold. But even 203 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: though it should not have been really But what happened 204 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:30,520 Speaker 1: next is that King Edward died after an uprising in Northumbria. 205 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:33,120 Speaker 1: He had tried to raise an army to put down 206 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:36,080 Speaker 1: the rebellion, but winter was coming and people were pretty 207 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:39,680 Speaker 1: reluctant to get involved in what was really a civil war, 208 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:43,840 Speaker 1: so eventually Edward just had to give into the rebels demands, 209 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:46,840 Speaker 1: and he was apparently so distraught by his failure to 210 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:49,600 Speaker 1: bring Northumbria back in the line that he got sick 211 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: and never got better again. He died at the beginning 212 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: of January ten sixty six, and the king was buried 213 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 1: on January six of ten sixty six, and that day, 214 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:02,079 Speaker 1: even the he had sworn an oath to honor Williams 215 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 1: claim to the throne, Harold stepped in and took it 216 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:07,560 Speaker 1: for himself. We don't really have a lot of clear 217 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:11,800 Speaker 1: historical documentation conclusively telling us why he did this. At 218 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:15,439 Speaker 1: the time, though, succession wasn't always a straight up matter 219 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 1: of father to son inheritance, or of the king designated 220 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,280 Speaker 1: designating who was going to follow him to the throne. 221 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 1: In England, a man wasn't really considered to be king 222 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:28,760 Speaker 1: until he had the support of a majority of England's 223 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:33,000 Speaker 1: most powerful men. Like we said, England was not super 224 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 1: keen on the idea of having a Norman king, and 225 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:38,920 Speaker 1: there are also some accounts, including the Life of King Edward, 226 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 1: which Queen Edith later had written, that said Edward either 227 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:45,480 Speaker 1: gave the kingdom to Harold on his deathbed or that 228 00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:49,359 Speaker 1: he had entrusted it to him. In the Baieux Tapestry, 229 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:52,719 Speaker 1: Harold is shown being given the crown, and almost one 230 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:56,319 Speaker 1: thousand years later we still don't entirely know what went down. 231 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:00,520 Speaker 1: So whatever the circumstances are of Harold being round, King 232 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:08,200 Speaker 1: William objected, and so apparently did Harold's brother Toasting, who 233 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:12,120 Speaker 1: then mounted two different invasions of England. The first came 234 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 1: from Flanders and the second came with backup from the Vikings. 235 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:18,559 Speaker 1: So Harold had to spend the start of his reign 236 00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:22,080 Speaker 1: fighting off his brother in the far northern reaches of England. 237 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: But thanks to the lay of the land and the 238 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,680 Speaker 1: position of the English Channel, any invasion from Normandy would 239 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:31,920 Speaker 1: make landfall hundreds of miles to the south, and this 240 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:34,839 Speaker 1: meant that when William invaded, Harold would have a long 241 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:37,719 Speaker 1: way to travel to fight him off. So, since we've 242 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:40,560 Speaker 1: said ten sixty six a bunch of times, we know 243 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:43,319 Speaker 1: that that invasion is eminent. And before we get to it, 244 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:45,640 Speaker 1: let's take a moment and talk about a word from 245 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:56,360 Speaker 1: our sponsor. Now we're going to get back to the 246 00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:58,719 Speaker 1: actual battle. And since we know from the top of 247 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 1: the episode that this is what Tracy has gotten excited 248 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:05,440 Speaker 1: about talking about, very excited, go crazy. So it took 249 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:08,040 Speaker 1: a little while before William made it to England. He 250 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:10,679 Speaker 1: had to raise a bigger army than he already had, 251 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:12,480 Speaker 1: and he had to build at least some of the 252 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:14,400 Speaker 1: ships that were going to be required to take them 253 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,880 Speaker 1: across the channel. The weather was also against him for 254 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:20,080 Speaker 1: a while, so they had to put off setting sail. 255 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:25,400 Speaker 1: He finally landed in England on September of ten sixty six, 256 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:28,120 Speaker 1: and he was on the southeast coast at Peven's E 257 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:31,760 Speaker 1: and he took that town and marched to Hastings, which 258 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:34,360 Speaker 1: was twelve miles away, also pretty much on the coast, 259 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:37,600 Speaker 1: and at both of these locations the Normans seized a 260 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:40,440 Speaker 1: fort and then modified it to suit their own ends 261 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:43,920 Speaker 1: by adding ramparts and moats. And it would have taken 262 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:46,400 Speaker 1: days for the news to reach Harold of the Norman 263 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:49,240 Speaker 1: forsa Hastings, and he had to march his men all 264 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:52,640 Speaker 1: the way from Yorkshire, which was about two hundred miles away. 265 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:55,960 Speaker 1: They basically rode south as fast as they could, most 266 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: likely dismissing the soldiers who didn't have horses to ride, 267 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:01,800 Speaker 1: and mustering more as they went. So yeah, he was 268 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:04,240 Speaker 1: replacing the people who were on foot and couldn't keep 269 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 1: up as they went. Basically, Harold met William and Hastings 270 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: on October and the battle took place on the next day. 271 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:16,360 Speaker 1: And although Harold's forces had ridden horses to Hastings, they 272 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 1: all fought on foot, which was typical and English warfare 273 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,480 Speaker 1: at the time. William, on the other hand, had archers 274 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:26,040 Speaker 1: and cavalry in addition to his uh boots on the 275 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 1: ground infantry and the English secured a defensible position on 276 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:33,000 Speaker 1: high ground and the Norman's approached them from below So 277 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:35,360 Speaker 1: that's just sort of to set up the picture here. Yeah, 278 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:38,720 Speaker 1: if you know much about uh, you know, medieval warfare, 279 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,400 Speaker 1: or if you've ever played any kind of strategy game 280 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 1: that involves the soldiers, this looks like a really one 281 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,400 Speaker 1: sided battle because you had you had people who were 282 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:51,040 Speaker 1: on foot versus people who had archers and horses. Yeah, 283 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:53,360 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about why it was not nearly 284 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: that clear cut. Here's how William of Mom's Bray describes 285 00:15:56,960 --> 00:15:59,760 Speaker 1: the English all on foot, armed with battle axes and 286 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,320 Speaker 1: covering themselves in front by the juncture of their shields. 287 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 1: They formed an impenetrable body. The English were also armed, 288 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 1: we should say, with slings and spears, but it seems 289 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: as though they did not really have many archers, probably 290 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:15,520 Speaker 1: because of the speed at which they had to move 291 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:18,320 Speaker 1: to Hastings, so it wasn't like they could rouse all 292 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,920 Speaker 1: of the archery skilled gents in the area to help. 293 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:26,480 Speaker 1: Here's how William of Mom's Bray describes the Normans. Their 294 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:30,920 Speaker 1: infantry with bows and arrows formed the vanguard, while their cavalry, 295 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:34,040 Speaker 1: divided into wings, was placed in the rear. The Duke. 296 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:39,520 Speaker 1: That duke is as William with Serene countenance, declaring allowed 297 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: that God would favor him as being the righteous side, 298 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:45,920 Speaker 1: called for his arms, and when through the haste of 299 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: his attendance, he had put on his halber the hind 300 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:51,400 Speaker 1: part before, he corrected the mistake with a laugh, saying, 301 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: the power of my dukedom shall be turned into a kingdom. 302 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:58,080 Speaker 1: Basically a story here that he accidentally put his armor 303 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: on backwards and and then tried to turn that to 304 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,639 Speaker 1: his advantage rather than uh seeing as seeing it as 305 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:08,000 Speaker 1: a poor omen, I had a nickel for every time 306 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:12,240 Speaker 1: I put my armor on backward. William of Malmsbury also 307 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:15,080 Speaker 1: describes the English as having stayed up all night drinking 308 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:18,040 Speaker 1: and singing, while the Normans instead spent the night confessing 309 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:21,439 Speaker 1: their sins and having communion in the morning, which is 310 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: in all likelihood added color commentary and not a real thing. 311 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:28,920 Speaker 1: But both sides were clearly pretty worn out, the English 312 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:31,800 Speaker 1: from having traveled so far from getting to battle, and 313 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:34,200 Speaker 1: the Normans from having stood at the ready all night 314 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:38,119 Speaker 1: just in case an attack happened. So whether they were 315 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:40,439 Speaker 1: drinking or confessing, no one had gotten sleep, and they 316 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:43,119 Speaker 1: were all really tired. Yeah. This This account was written 317 00:17:43,119 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 1: a little bit later in the eleventh century, and and 318 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:49,320 Speaker 1: there are parts of it that people pretty much agree 319 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:51,359 Speaker 1: are probably right. But then when it gets to and 320 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:54,120 Speaker 1: then the English were up all night drinking, that's kind 321 00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:56,919 Speaker 1: of like the Hessians thing, right, they were all drunk, 322 00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,960 Speaker 1: clearly because they lost, they must have all been inebriated 323 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 1: it and that's really not not true. So, as we 324 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:06,880 Speaker 1: said earlier, the battle began with the English behind this 325 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:10,399 Speaker 1: shield wall, and then the Normans were arranged into lines, 326 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 1: with their crossbowmen at the front, and then their soldiers 327 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:16,919 Speaker 1: on foot, and then their knights on horses. And it 328 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:19,240 Speaker 1: would seem, of course, as though the English were at 329 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:23,200 Speaker 1: a vast disadvantage since they had neither cavalry nor very 330 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:26,359 Speaker 1: many archers. But they did have the high ground, and 331 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,400 Speaker 1: they had a shield wall and battle axes, which are 332 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:33,240 Speaker 1: in fact horrifying though maybe to think about very effective 333 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:36,720 Speaker 1: weapons when it comes to battling men on horseback. Yes, 334 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:39,679 Speaker 1: so if you do not hit the rider with your axe, 335 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:42,320 Speaker 1: you will hit the horse and it will go down. Yes, 336 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:46,359 Speaker 1: sad faith happened. I knew when I was typing this 337 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:48,639 Speaker 1: that Holly was going to be very sad about the 338 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:54,360 Speaker 1: predictable with the animal stuff, so William moved his men 339 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:57,040 Speaker 1: and kind of waves. They would fire a volley of 340 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:00,520 Speaker 1: arrows and then alternate charges with the foots, the foot 341 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:03,560 Speaker 1: soldiers and the knights, And there were a lot of 342 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:07,480 Speaker 1: casualties on both sides, but the English shield wall held 343 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:10,439 Speaker 1: for a really long time. This battle went on basically 344 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: all day. The tide to the battle turned when the 345 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:18,920 Speaker 1: Normans either retreated or feigned a retreat. Some accounts say 346 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:21,680 Speaker 1: this was a deliberate strategy on Williams part, and others 347 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:24,840 Speaker 1: suggested that Norman's actually lost their nerve when a rumor 348 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:27,400 Speaker 1: spread that William had been killed. So we don't know 349 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:33,320 Speaker 1: why they turned. Yeah, it it's pretty much. The English 350 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:37,359 Speaker 1: writers say that that the Normans all kind of freaked 351 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:40,679 Speaker 1: out when their leader apparently fell but had not really fallen, 352 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:42,679 Speaker 1: and the Normans, on the other hand, say that it 353 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:46,160 Speaker 1: was a skilled battle maneuver on William's part. I meant 354 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:51,399 Speaker 1: to do that. Yeah, either way. When the Normans started 355 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,560 Speaker 1: to flee, the English broke their ranks and went after them, 356 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:57,399 Speaker 1: and then the Norman's turned on them and cut them down. 357 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: And it's also unclear whether the sequence of events actually 358 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:05,119 Speaker 1: happened once or twice, So maybe one time it was 359 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:07,560 Speaker 1: out of fear and one time it was on purpose, 360 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:10,439 Speaker 1: we don't know. But regardless, the shield wall started to 361 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:13,440 Speaker 1: fail and the Normans really started to gain ground. Yeah. 362 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:16,920 Speaker 1: I described this whole battle to do the boyfriend, and 363 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:18,880 Speaker 1: he was like, they failed for that more than once, 364 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: and I said, well, that's a little we don't know historically. 365 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:25,000 Speaker 1: Possibly what we do know is that later in the 366 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:30,840 Speaker 1: afternoon Harold was killed. The Baiou tapestry depicts him as 367 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:32,880 Speaker 1: being shot with an arrow through the eye and an 368 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:38,679 Speaker 1: extremely memorable sequence, But that's actually a later account, Like 369 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:42,960 Speaker 1: that's not something that seems to have persisted on the day, 370 00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:48,320 Speaker 1: So that might be sort of a romanticized, horrifying edition 371 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:53,000 Speaker 1: of a later historian or writer and not something that 372 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:57,560 Speaker 1: actually happened on that day. But when he felt that's 373 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:02,960 Speaker 1: definitely when English soldiers really started to scatter um and 374 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:06,119 Speaker 1: as the sun started to set, the battle was pretty 375 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:10,560 Speaker 1: much over, with the Normans hoping to clean up the stragglers. Yeah, 376 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,520 Speaker 1: the Normans went after the stragglers and they slaughtered a 377 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: lot of them, but many of the Normans were also 378 00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:19,960 Speaker 1: killed after the battle itself was over. After piling onto 379 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:22,960 Speaker 1: one another against a rampart that was hidden in tall grass, 380 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:27,920 Speaker 1: And so this thing ended with just scores of bodies, 381 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:39,919 Speaker 1: the big body count for this particular battle. So after 382 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:44,679 Speaker 1: the battle Harold had died, William had one. But coming 383 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:47,199 Speaker 1: to the throne wasn't quite as simple as all that. 384 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:49,679 Speaker 1: It wasn't so much that William killed Harold in the 385 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:53,200 Speaker 1: battle and that William consequently got to be king. There 386 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:56,920 Speaker 1: was still actually one other heir to the throne alive 387 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,560 Speaker 1: at this point. That was Edgar Atheling, who was son 388 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:04,040 Speaker 1: of Edward the Exile, who was son of Edmund Ironside, 389 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:08,160 Speaker 1: who himself had been king for several months. So Edgar 390 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,480 Speaker 1: was only about thirteen years old, but he did have 391 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:14,560 Speaker 1: a much clearer line of successions straight to the throne 392 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:17,679 Speaker 1: than either Harold or William did, And while he was 393 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,000 Speaker 1: not full of supporters all over England, he did have 394 00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:24,240 Speaker 1: the backing of the archbishop and the citizens of London. 395 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:28,920 Speaker 1: And there's really all kinds of disagreement about what exactly 396 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:32,320 Speaker 1: took place next, how much force William used making his 397 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:35,000 Speaker 1: way to London, and how much the death toll continued 398 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 1: to climb. Those all still have a lot of question 399 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:39,240 Speaker 1: marks around them. We know that it was a really 400 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:43,200 Speaker 1: bloody campaign though, and in the end Edgar's supporters did 401 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,879 Speaker 1: back down. William moved on to London and was crowned 402 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,639 Speaker 1: king on Christmas Day ten sixty six. He built Battle 403 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:54,919 Speaker 1: Abbey on the site of the battle uh approximately as 404 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:58,920 Speaker 1: as we think today. The town of Battle grew up 405 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:02,000 Speaker 1: around it, and the altar in the abbey is said 406 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:05,239 Speaker 1: to stand on the spot where Harold had stood at 407 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,679 Speaker 1: the center of the shield wall. The aftermath of the 408 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:12,840 Speaker 1: Norman invasion really could be its own whole other podcast topic. 409 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:16,000 Speaker 1: The next several years were very grizzly as the English 410 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:20,359 Speaker 1: rebelled against their new Norman king, and William definitely put 411 00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:23,840 Speaker 1: down their rebellions. Case in point the Harrying of the North, 412 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:26,159 Speaker 1: in which William did a whole lot of conquering and 413 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,520 Speaker 1: pillaging in Northumbria and as many as a one hundred 414 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,280 Speaker 1: thousand people starved to death, which is just a huge 415 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,919 Speaker 1: It was a huge death toll. Mammoth there was. There 416 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:40,359 Speaker 1: was a lot of killing and and and pillaging for 417 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:44,800 Speaker 1: many years, and even though this was definitely a bloody 418 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,240 Speaker 1: and oppressive conquest, there are some modern beliefs about the 419 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: Norman invasion. That don't quite hold up. For example, the 420 00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:55,720 Speaker 1: Normans did not introduce the idea of a class system 421 00:23:55,960 --> 00:24:00,240 Speaker 1: to England and Anglo Saxon England about ten of the 422 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:03,800 Speaker 1: people were actually slaves and most of the free people 423 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,679 Speaker 1: were peasants. There was a very very small, very wealthy 424 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 1: aristocracy and an even smaller ruling class that held actual power, 425 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:17,399 Speaker 1: So Anglo Saxon England like was not some kind of 426 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:22,359 Speaker 1: utopia where everyone was Yeah, it's also not true that 427 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,679 Speaker 1: women were better off before the Norman invasion. Uh. That 428 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:28,119 Speaker 1: comes up pretty often to this idea that that women 429 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:30,600 Speaker 1: were equal to men before the Normans, and the Normans 430 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: started subjugating them. So while it's totally true that women 431 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,400 Speaker 1: didn't have many rights and privileges after the Battle of Hastings, 432 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:43,240 Speaker 1: they really didn't before either. This did, though, have one 433 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:46,280 Speaker 1: really huge impact that is recognized and I think most 434 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:48,720 Speaker 1: people know about, which is that it radically changed the 435 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:52,679 Speaker 1: English language through the influence of Norman speaking rulers. So 436 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,080 Speaker 1: by the twelfth century people were speaking what we know 437 00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:57,720 Speaker 1: today is Middle English, which is the language of the 438 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:02,239 Speaker 1: Canterbury Tales. So definitely had a huge impact on the 439 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 1: culture of England's the direction of history. It's it's sort 440 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: of considered a watershed moment in English history especially. Uh 441 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:17,360 Speaker 1: but if you hear people say that, uh the Normans 442 00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,520 Speaker 1: were universally a terrible influence on England, that doesn't quite. 443 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 1: William was quite a grizzly and bloody ruler, yes, especially 444 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:29,120 Speaker 1: lots of bad and unfortunate things going on already. Yes. 445 00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:33,639 Speaker 1: Uh So today you can still visit the battle site 446 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:37,560 Speaker 1: in Sussex, although there's been some debate really recently about 447 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,320 Speaker 1: whether our modern idea of where the battlefield was is 448 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:46,280 Speaker 1: exactly the right one and uh in which is just 449 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:50,119 Speaker 1: as research was starting on this episode, the UK television 450 00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:53,080 Speaker 1: show Time team claimed that the site of the battle 451 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,240 Speaker 1: was really about two meters away on what's now around 452 00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:59,840 Speaker 1: about and they used uh light our technology to map 453 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 1: the area near what's believed to be the actual battlefield. 454 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:07,040 Speaker 1: So whether this is actually true is either up in 455 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:11,040 Speaker 1: the air or roundly dismissed depending on who you talk to. 456 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:15,879 Speaker 1: There have been several other alleged quote real sites of 457 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:19,040 Speaker 1: the battle over the years, though, um, it's one of 458 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:22,119 Speaker 1: those things where it was it was a pretty big 459 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:24,680 Speaker 1: space people would have been fighting in people keep sort 460 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:28,000 Speaker 1: of trying to pinpoint an exact spot. It kind of 461 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:32,240 Speaker 1: is the center of an amiba. Yeah, it's it's not 462 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:35,879 Speaker 1: quite that simple. Yeah. English Heritage also known as the 463 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:40,320 Speaker 1: Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England disputed this whole 464 00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:43,000 Speaker 1: time Team Finding, basically saying what we just said, that 465 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:46,040 Speaker 1: the battle took place over a wide swath of the area, 466 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:48,120 Speaker 1: So really, what was the point in trying to say 467 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:51,440 Speaker 1: this spot is where it happened. There are also three 468 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 1: completely different sites that have been bandied about as the 469 00:26:55,119 --> 00:26:59,240 Speaker 1: exact spot in quotation marks. And then there's also a 470 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,080 Speaker 1: cool thing on line that you found that I know 471 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:03,280 Speaker 1: you're yearning to talk about. Did It is a Battle 472 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:05,760 Speaker 1: of Hastings game you can play at the BBC. We 473 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,120 Speaker 1: will link to it in our show notes. You can 474 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:10,520 Speaker 1: play as William or you can play as Harold and 475 00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:13,760 Speaker 1: you can see you what the what the results are 476 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: if you make different decisions as a as a leader 477 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:19,840 Speaker 1: in the battle. At first I thought it was somehow 478 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:24,440 Speaker 1: rigged because I kept trying to play as as William, 479 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:26,919 Speaker 1: and this was before I had researched exactly how the 480 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:30,240 Speaker 1: battle unfolded, and I failed a whole lot of times, 481 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:33,120 Speaker 1: and then I played it again after I had read 482 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,160 Speaker 1: it and went, oh, yes, I see, I see how 483 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:45,080 Speaker 1: this works. Now. Thank you so much for joining us 484 00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 1: on this Saturday. If you have heard an email address 485 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:50,840 Speaker 1: or a Facebook you are l or something similar over 486 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,199 Speaker 1: the course of today's episode, since it is from the 487 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:55,920 Speaker 1: archive that might be out of date. Now, you can 488 00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:59,360 Speaker 1: email us at history podcast at how stuff Works dot com, 489 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:01,600 Speaker 1: and you can find us all over social media at 490 00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 1: missed in History, and you can subscribe to our show 491 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:08,280 Speaker 1: on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, the I heart Radio app, 492 00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Stuffy Missed in 493 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:17,760 Speaker 1: History Class is a production of I Heart Radio's How 494 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:20,920 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit 495 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:24,160 Speaker 1: the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen 496 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:25,119 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.