The Story of 1066

Matt Lewis (0:00)

It began with the death of a saint king and a bitter succession battle, followed by an apocalyptic storm, Viking invasions ravaging the north, Norman armadas striking the south, and brutal slaughter at Hastings. With an arrow to the Anglo-Saxon king's eye, a new dynasty would be born. By the year's end, William, descendant of the Viking King Rollo, would conquer England. Here on Gone Medieval, we thrive on this drama. I'm Matt Lewis, and today, Dr Eleanor Janega and I are stepping onto the blood-soaked battlefields of a momentous year to uncover the masterminds pulling the strings. We're answering the big questions. Why did the Battle of Hastings really happen? Who were the ruthless players fighting for the crown? And how did that fateful year radically forge a new England?

This is an epic saga of slaughtered kings, shattered shields and fragile, world-changing victories. This is the story of 1066 Welcome to Gone Medieval.

So 1066, it's a year, people have probably heard of it.

But what we're going to do is try and pull it apart. And it lends itself to this kind of treatment, I think, because we can start right at the beginning and we can get all the way to the very end. So strapping, because this is going to take a little while.

Eleanor Janega (1:42)

I think that this is a really important point because I think people hear the term 1066 and they're like, oh yeah, yeah, the Battle of Hastings. And I'm like, baby, there's so much to get through first.

Matt Lewis (1:51)

That was one day of it. We can start all of this on the 5th of January, so just a few days into the year. We've got Edward the Confessor, who's been king of Anglo-Saxon England for a couple of decades, old man, married, no children. What's going on there? Story for another day, perhaps.

But he's been ill. He's rushed through the completion of his brand new Westminster Abbey, because he needs to be buried somewhere soon. He could be buried in the church that he built.

He has it consecrated at the end of 1065 and just five days into 1066 Sure enough, the king pops his clogs with no son, no universally accepted heir, and we are starting the year with a problem.

Eleanor Janega (2:36)

And this is a huge problem, right? Because we have to figure out who is going to be his successor. And maybe, allegedly, some people were named. It has been alleged, but how much can we actually know about what happened, you know, and what happened on his deathbed? Because there are several competing stories, right?

Matt Lewis (2:57)

Yeah, yeah. And they take hold depending on who is currently in The Ascendant.

Because we've gone through a period where he has invited one of his nephews, Edward the Exile, to come back to England when it's pretty clear he's not going to have a son. This is perhaps the last scion of the male line of the House of Wessex. He's been living off in exile. And so Uncle Edward the Confessor is like, come on home, it'll be great. But in the long tradition of Anglo-Saxon heirs, this isn't always the friendly outreach that it's been positioned as. There has been occasions when people have come back under these circumstances only to be seized, blinded, killed, whatever else. So Edward the Exile is kind of taking a little bit of a punt coming back from Hungary, where he's been growing up with his family, brings his son and his daughters back with him.

But then he goes and dies as soon as he gets back to England. So all of Edward the Confessor's plans are immediately out the window, though it does leave him with Edward the Exile's son. So Edward the Confessor's great nephew.

Eleanor Janega (4:01)

Yeah, great.

Matt Lewis (4:02)

Edgar the Ethling. So he has that title, Ethling, Anglo-Saxon meaning something like throne worthy. So he's in the pool of people who could be considered next in line to the throne, but he is a young boy and Anglo-Saxon England is not fond of young child kings. They tend to pass them over in favour of their uncles and things like that to avoid a minority.

So until Edgar comes of age he's not probably the main option, but he appears to be the only real one from the House of Wessex. So if Edward lives long enough, perhaps Edgar is his heir. In the meantime, there's lots of other questions about who it might be. The Godwinson family, hugely powerful around this time. Edward the Confessor at most points in his reign is not getting on well with the Godwins, with Earl Godwin and his children, the Godwinsons. They are hugely powerful, imposing themselves on Edward and he doesn't really enjoy that. So he's sort of pushing and thrashing back against this. But Harold Godwinson is married to his sister. So there is a familial link there. Harold isn't a member of the House of Wessex, but he is Earl of Wessex now.