1 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:16,520 The priory of St Gervais, near Rouen in northern France. 2 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,080 The year is 1087. 3 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:29,400 William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England, is dying. 4 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:37,880 He's surrounded by clergy and his most trusted barons and knights. 5 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:44,800 As the sun rises, William confesses his sins 6 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,960 and calls on the Virgin Mary to pray for him. 7 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,040 BELL TOLLS 8 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,680 And then, he dies. 9 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:11,560 What follows is a horrible scene. 10 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:14,360 The men around William's body panic. 11 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:20,000 Some galloped off, fearful of the chaos to come. 12 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:25,040 Those who stayed plundered the King's possessions, seizing arms, vessels, 13 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:29,680 linen, clothing, anything they could lay their hands on. 14 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:34,360 Then they abandoned his corpse, stripped half-naked. 15 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:43,120 So ended the life of one of the most powerful rulers in 11th century Europe. 16 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:54,800 William the Conqueror established the Normans as a formidable force in history. 17 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:57,960 He dominated Normandy for 52 years. 18 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:04,360 But his greatest achievement was the conquest of England in 1066. 19 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:18,880 The years that followed saw one of the most fundamental transformations in British history. 20 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:28,280 The reign of William the Conqueror marks the end 21 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:33,320 of Anglo-Saxon England. He imposed a new aristocracy, a new language, 22 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:34,520 a new culture. 23 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,840 He transformed England into a Norman stronghold. 24 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:42,560 And the Normans didn't stop at the borders of England. 25 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:47,640 Scotland, Wales and Ireland were also to feel their impact. 26 00:02:47,640 --> 00:02:52,040 The political and cultural landscape of Britain and Ireland today 27 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:55,240 was forged by the Normans. 28 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,160 England, 1066. 29 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:24,520 One of the wealthiest and most efficiently-run states in medieval Europe. 30 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:28,080 Now a country under Norman occupation. 31 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:50,320 Just two months after his victory at the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror was in Westminster Abbey. 32 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:56,600 He was about to achieve his greatest ambition, 33 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,400 coronation as King of England. 34 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:12,920 But it wasn't quite the glorious occasion William had in mind. 35 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,560 The Archbishop of York asked the assembled Anglo-Saxon bishops and nobles 36 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:21,680 if they were willing to have William crowned as their lord. 37 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,920 Something of a formality, since they had already submitted to his power. 38 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:29,680 With one voice, they dutifully cried out their assent. 39 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:35,960 But the Normans on guard outside the abbey, hearing what they described as "incomprehensible shouting", 40 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,360 feared treachery, and set fire to the buildings around the abbey. 41 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:50,880 The coronation of England's first Norman King was descending into chaos. 42 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:00,760 But greater turmoil was to follow. 43 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:08,000 The coronation of William the Conqueror marks one of the sharpest breaks 44 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,160 there has ever been in English history. 45 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,000 Anglo-Saxon England was dead. 46 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:14,680 The country was now ruled by the Normans. 47 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:19,040 But the disastrous ceremony at Westminster Abbey was an indication 48 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:25,480 that the relationship between the English and their new rulers wasn't going to be an easy one. 49 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:42,640 William moved quickly to secure his power. 50 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:49,040 He began distributing his newly conquered lands among Norman nobles and bishops. 51 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:52,760 Within weeks, the English landscape was being transformed 52 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:55,840 by the construction of motte-and-bailey castles. 53 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,120 Built by locally conscripted labour, 54 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:07,680 they were huge mounds of earth topped with wooden stockades. 55 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:12,640 Many would later be replaced with monumental towers of stone. 56 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:21,680 The English had never seen anything like this before. 57 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:27,520 Traditional Anglo-Saxon fortifications were large defensive enclosures 58 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:31,160 built to shelter the people from attack. 59 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:35,720 Norman castles were compact military bases 60 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:40,480 designed to defend the power of William's newly-imposed lords. 61 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:51,240 This one in Colchester was partly built with bricks from ancient Roman ruins. 62 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:00,000 It was the largest keep in Europe. 63 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:13,040 Almost 80 years after the conquest, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was still reporting 64 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:19,080 that the Normans were, "oppressing the men of the land with forced labour on the castles." 65 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:23,520 And when they were built, "they filled them with devils and evil men". 66 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:29,280 Clearly the local population regarded these places as dark and evil. 67 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:31,920 And that was the Normans' intention - 68 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,360 to intimidate the local community. 69 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:57,720 Within 30 years, the Normans had built hundreds of these fortifications across the country. 70 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:03,040 Few places were more than a day's journey from a castle. 71 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:08,600 This was a complete militarisation of England. 72 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:16,640 This stone keep was built to guard over William's new capital. 73 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:19,960 It was the tallest building in the city. 74 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:23,160 We now know it as the Tower of London. 75 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:31,280 But England still wasn't safe for William's army of occupation. 76 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:46,880 The Abingdon Chronicle tells us that Adelelm, the new Norman abbot of Abingdon, 77 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:52,480 "in the first days of his abbacy went nowhere unless accompanied by armed knights". 78 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:54,880 The situation was volatile. 79 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:59,480 Anglo-Saxon rebels set up secret ambushes for the Normans 80 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:02,920 and killed them in woods and remote places. 81 00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:11,720 To protect himself and his men from ambush and casual knifings, 82 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:16,240 William introduced a special penalty targeting the English. 83 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:19,240 It was known as the Murdrum Fine. 84 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:27,280 Whenever an unknown man was found murdered, the surrounding villages 85 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,800 had to provide evidence that he was English. 86 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:36,880 In the absence of such evidence, it was presumed he was French and the villagers were fined. 87 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:42,360 In William the Conqueror's England, the killing of Normans required a special punishment. 88 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:55,560 Anglo-Saxon resistance was growing. 89 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:06,800 In the north of England, it erupted into open warfare. 90 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:14,120 Hundreds of years of Scandinavian influence 91 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:19,280 had created a northern aristocracy that was largely of Danish origin. 92 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:33,480 Now the rebels joined forces with the King of Denmark, who was making his own claim on the English throne. 93 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:40,280 In 1069, William marched on York to crush the rebellion. 94 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:48,040 The Normans devastated the north of England. 95 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:51,560 They sacked every village and farmstead as they went. 96 00:10:51,560 --> 00:10:58,720 Then William divided his troops into smaller bands who destroyed any crops and livestock they could find. 97 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:05,640 This campaign of systematic slaughter and destruction is known as the Harrying Of The North. 98 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:33,240 The Anglo-Norman historian Orderic Vitalis reports that more than 100,000 people died. 99 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:44,760 Those who survived were reduced to eating horses, dogs and cats, 100 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:47,680 and some say, even human flesh. 101 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:53,440 A stream of refugees began pouring south. 102 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:02,400 A monk of Evesham tells of "a huge crowd of old men, young men, 103 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:05,760 "women with infants, fleeing the misery of famine." 104 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:07,920 He describes their wretched state. 105 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:13,120 "These people lay throughout the village, in doors and out, even in the churchyard. 106 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:17,000 "They were sick, destroyed by famine before they arrived here. 107 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,480 "Many died just as they tasted food". 108 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:29,320 A huge area across northern and central England was laid waste 109 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,720 by this scorched-earth assault on the northern rebels. 110 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:40,640 Plotting the settlements destroyed by the Normans shows the scar 111 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:44,000 that was carved across the country by William's army. 112 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:54,800 16 years later, these areas were still desolate wastelands. 113 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:03,280 William was unrepentant. 114 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:09,000 He spent Christmas 1069 celebrating amid the squalor and death in York. 115 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:13,320 He even had his full coronation regalia sent up from London. 116 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:16,240 And on the third anniversary of his coronation, 117 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:20,920 he wore his crown and robes in the ruins of York Minster, 118 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:25,120 a symbolic gesture of triumph over the rebels. 119 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:37,120 All over England, Normans were taking the place of Anglo-Saxon bishops, sheriffs and landowners. 120 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:41,840 English culture was being transformed. 121 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:50,560 The conquest brought a small, mainly male group to power in England, 122 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:54,640 a ruling elite of perhaps no more than 10,000 men. 123 00:13:54,640 --> 00:14:00,320 Inter-marriage was common, and the children of these Anglo-Norman marriages 124 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:05,360 spoke English, because their mothers or wet-nurses were English. 125 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:13,560 And the French and English languages are still today playing out that dance they began in 1066. 126 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:20,000 In the three centuries that followed the conquest, 127 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,880 thousands of French words entered the English language. 128 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:26,640 At first, they were the words of power... 129 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:31,200 ..politics... 130 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:35,280 ..and law. 131 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:42,800 But soon the language reflected Norman influence in every aspect of life. 132 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:54,000 Some of the new words were very important, like "war" 133 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,480 and "peace", "justice" and "court". 134 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:02,080 And the reason the modern English language has so many different words for the same thing 135 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:05,000 is that the Normans introduced French alternatives. 136 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:08,520 So "royal" is derived from the French. 137 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:10,280 "Kingly" or "queenly" 138 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:12,040 from the Old English. 139 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:15,080 The same with "country" - French. 140 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:17,600 "Land" - English. 141 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:19,840 "Amorous" - French. 142 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:21,760 "Loving" - English. 143 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:26,680 One of the things that can make Anglo-Saxon history 144 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:34,120 seem strange or distant to us is the unfamiliarity of the names, the Ethelberts and Egberts. 145 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:38,880 The Norman names - William, Henry, Richard, Robert - 146 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:43,440 caught on amongst the conquered, and endure to this day. 147 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:45,880 The ruling elite set the fashion. 148 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:52,240 Soon William was the most common male name in England, even amongst the peasantry. 149 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:56,520 Surnames beginning with "fitz" 150 00:15:56,520 --> 00:16:02,560 go back to the Norman practice of using "fils", meaning "son of", as part of the name, 151 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:08,760 giving "Fitzsimmons", son of Simon, or "Fitzgerald", son of Gerald. 152 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:15,640 The languages were blending together but French remained the tongue of the ruling class. 153 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:19,960 And nowhere are these class divisions clearer than with meat and drink. 154 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:24,120 "Pig" is English, "pork" French. 155 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:28,200 "Sheep" is English, "mutton" French. 156 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:32,920 So when it's in a cold and muddy field, covered in dung, it's named in English. 157 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:39,640 When it's been cooked and carved and put on the table with a glass of wine, it's referred to in French. 158 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:49,800 This association of "Frenchness" with the English upper class 159 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:53,000 and Anglo-Saxon with coarseness and vulgarity 160 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,320 is one of the Normans' most enduring legacies. 161 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:05,280 But over the decades, the cultural distinction between Normans and Anglo-Saxons gradually evaporated 162 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:12,680 and English evolved and prospered to become one of the most influential languages in the world. 163 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:15,680 About 100 years after the Battle of Hastings, 164 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:19,840 the King's treasurer, Richard Fitzneal, wrote that, 165 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:24,600 "with the Normans and the English living side by side and inter-marrying, 166 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:26,800 "the peoples have become so mingled 167 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:32,680 "that nowadays it's impossible to tell who is of English and who of Norman descent." 168 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:37,960 And French, the language of power of the Normans, was, by 1500, 169 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:41,480 simply a foreign tongue to be learnt at school. 170 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:51,720 But under William's rule, some Anglo-Saxons were still trying to resist Norman occupation. 171 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:06,800 A few years after the conquest, an exiled English rebel called Hereward 172 00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:10,600 secretly returned to eastern England. 173 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:20,160 When Hereward entered the house of one of his father's knights, he found them all in mourning. 174 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:24,440 Only the day before, his younger brother had been killed by the Normans. 175 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:29,200 His severed head was hanging above the door of the family house. 176 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:41,440 Hereward found a group of drunken Normans still singing and celebrating. 177 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:45,200 He jumped from the shadows and slaughtered them. 178 00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:57,640 When he left the house, Hereward hung the severed heads 179 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,800 of the Normans above the door, in place of his brother's. 180 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:04,840 His legend grew. Later he would be called Hereward the Wake. 181 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:07,560 Some say because he was "ever watchful". 182 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:09,240 Whatever the reason, 183 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:13,400 Hereward was now ready to wage guerrilla war against the Normans. 184 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:26,480 Like the rebels in the north, Hereward formed an alliance with the Danes. 185 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:38,080 The Fens in the east of England became the centre of their revolt. 186 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:50,080 This watery wasteland was studded with small islands, perfect hiding places for the rebels. 187 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:58,480 Hereward was holed up in the island monastery of Ely. 188 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:02,120 The Fens provided a natural defensive position. 189 00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:05,800 And because the rebels had stocked Ely with supplies of food, 190 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:09,800 Hereward was confident that he could survive the longest siege. 191 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:23,200 The rebels had local allies who helped them find their way across the treacherous marshes. 192 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:39,040 William prepared a major offensive against Ely. 193 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:47,880 He constructed a long wooden ramp to gain access to the island. 194 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:56,160 The Normans rushed across the causeway, eager for the loot they hoped to obtain, 195 00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:59,360 but under their weight, the causeway collapsed. 196 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:03,120 In their heavy mail coats, the Norman knights had no chance. 197 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:05,480 They sank into the muddy water. 198 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:11,000 Skeletons in rotting armour were still being pulled from the fen many years later. 199 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:18,400 For the next attack, William brought in siege machines. 200 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:22,400 He also summoned supernatural forces. 201 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:27,840 An old witch was recruited to terrorise the rebels. 202 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:32,240 She was placed on a raised platform in the middle of his troops. 203 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:39,720 From her lofty position, she ranted at the isle and all who dwelled there. 204 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,400 She threatened destruction and defeat, 205 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:48,280 and she always concluded her incantations by flashing her bare backside at them. 206 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,960 Now Hereward set fire to the Fens. 207 00:21:55,960 --> 00:22:00,680 The platform burned down and the witch broke her neck. 208 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,520 But it was too late. 209 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:10,360 Local monks had betrayed the rebels, and led the Norman army along a secret path to the island. 210 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:22,240 Hereward's forces were defeated. 211 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:38,880 William, victorious, marched on. 212 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:44,560 And work soon began on another monumental symbol of Norman authority, 213 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:47,720 the magnificent abbey church at Ely. 214 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:05,560 The Normans were among the greatest church builders in Europe. 215 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:14,840 Alongside hundreds of castles, they built abbeys and cathedrals 216 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:18,840 on a scale never seen before in England. 217 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:38,480 In Normandy, they'd used them to proclaim their fervent Christianity, wealth and power. 218 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:48,200 Now they were stamping the same monumental style over their newly conquered territory. 219 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:54,160 Ely Cathedral has the Norman trademark stone columns and soaring arches. 220 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:58,600 It also has one of the longest naves in the country. 221 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,920 Cathedrals like this were built to last. 222 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:16,320 Scarcely a stone survives from the cathedrals of Anglo-Saxon England, 223 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:20,680 but go to Ely, or Durham, or Gloucester, or Winchester, 224 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:24,960 and you can still see the magnificent churches the Normans built. 225 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:29,720 They were imposing sights and also a permanent reminder 226 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:33,800 to the Anglo-Saxons that they were a conquered people. 227 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:57,240 20 years into his reign, William launched an entirely new venture. 228 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:04,520 Until now, he hadn't tampered with England's efficient tax system. 229 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:08,920 It was still pouring silver into the royal treasury. 230 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,160 But now his tactics changed. 231 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:28,560 In 1086, Norman officials arrived in towns and villages all over England. 232 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:35,440 They came with soldiers, but they were also armed with parchment and ink. 233 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:46,240 These were William's commissioners and they summoned apprehensive men from every village in the shire. 234 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:52,040 The commissioners asked the following questions: 235 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:53,600 "What is the name of the manor? 236 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:57,000 "Who held it in the time of King Edward? Who holds it now? 237 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,880 "How many hides of land are there? How many ploughs belonging to the lord? 238 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:05,600 "How many belonging to the peasants? How many villagers are there in the manor? How many cottagers? 239 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:08,200 "How much meadow? How many mills?" 240 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:19,320 These questions were being asked in public inquests all over England. 241 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:25,360 The Normans had begun the greatest national audit ever undertaken in Europe. 242 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:30,640 The Survey Of The Whole Of England 243 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:32,680 is what the Normans called it, 244 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:38,840 but the English people, whose homes and fields, livelihoods and livestock it catalogued, 245 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:43,640 had another name for it - Domesday, the Day of Judgement. 246 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:55,200 The Domesday inquisition was carried out with characteristic Norman energy and discipline. 247 00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:03,120 Within six months, almost the whole country had been assessed and documented. 248 00:27:16,360 --> 00:27:20,480 And this is the final document, Domesday Book itself. 249 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:24,320 The smaller volume is a detailed survey of East Anglia, 250 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:29,400 the larger volume, a survey of the rest of the country - Great Domesday, it's called. 251 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:34,520 It was written throughout by one scribe who used running headings, 252 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:38,040 red ink and capitals to pick out individual entries. 253 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:41,440 It's a masterpiece of design and layout. 254 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,920 We're not sure why William commissioned Domesday. 255 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:50,120 But the very last question asked by the survey gives us a clue. 256 00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:53,000 "Can more be had than is had?" 257 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,640 William was looking for more money. 258 00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:05,440 Domesday Book gives us a unique insight into the Anglo-Norman world. 259 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:11,360 And it gave William more information about his kingdom than any previous English king. 260 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:18,760 We know, for example, that this was an overwhelmingly rural society. 261 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:22,280 No more than 5% or 10% of the population lived in towns. 262 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:27,480 Domesday tells us there were 6,000 mills in the country. 263 00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:34,760 And we know that on the lords' farms in East Anglia, there were 150,000 sheep and 35,000 pigs. 264 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:41,120 The Domesday entry for the village of Gidding near Huntingdon 265 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:47,240 records that 65 peasant families worked the land here in 1086. 266 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:52,720 It also shows what the conquest of England meant for ordinary Anglo-Saxons. 267 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:06,040 Domesday Book tells us that most of Gidding had passed into the hands of Norman lords, 268 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:08,720 William Engaine and Eustace the sheriff. 269 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:11,960 And it records the moment of dispossession. 270 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:17,720 "In Gidding there are six free men, Alfwold and his five brothers. 271 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:19,320 "Now Eustace holds that land. 272 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:25,160 "Alfwold and his brothers claim that Eustace took the land from them unjustly." 273 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:31,240 In those simple words, we have a stark image of the Anglo-Saxon dispossessed by the Normans. 274 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:39,000 Domesday reveals that every level of Anglo-Saxon society 275 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:42,440 was turned upside down by the conquest. 276 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:46,120 And it's not surprising who gained most from the process. 277 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:54,000 The King and his family possessed about 20% of the wealth of England. 278 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,520 Another 25% was in the hands of the Church. 279 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:02,640 Of the remaining 55%, the vast majority, half of England, 280 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:05,920 was now in the hands of Norman barons, 281 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:11,520 leaving a bare 5% to the surviving old English nobles. 282 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,040 This was the most complete replacement 283 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:22,000 of one ruling class by another ever recorded in English history. 284 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:35,800 As a result of William's new authority in England, 285 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:40,480 Normandy was now one of the most powerful principalities in France. 286 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:48,560 But in 1087, he had to defend his duchy from a French invasion. 287 00:30:56,400 --> 00:31:02,800 He routed the French army, quickly took the town of Mantes and burned it to the ground. 288 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:11,160 But the battle ended badly for William. 289 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:19,080 By now, William was about 60 years of age and very fat. 290 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:24,160 One report says that his horse stumbled in the burning ruins of Mantes 291 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:29,200 and the pommel of the saddle pierced the King's distended belly. 292 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:33,720 He was carried back to a quiet priory in Normandy to recover. 293 00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:45,280 The injured King was taken to the priory of St Gervais near Rouen. 294 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:54,960 All that remains from that time is the ancient crypt beneath the 19th century church. 295 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:03,840 Clergy and aristocracy gathered around the King's bed. 296 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:08,600 William begged them to pray for him. 297 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:14,160 According to the historian Orderic Vitalis, 298 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:19,240 he also made a surprising confession of his sins against the English. 299 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:27,160 "I hated the native sons of the kingdom more than was just. 300 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:31,320 "I cruelly mistreated both the nobles and the common people. 301 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:38,920 "I unjustly dispossessed many and I killed a countless multitude by sword and famine." 302 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:42,160 This doesn't sound like the William we know, 303 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:46,840 but Orderic was the son of an English mother and a Norman father, 304 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:50,320 so must have had complicated feelings about William the Conqueror 305 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:58,120 and, as a good monk, he gave William the kind of deathbed speech that a repentant King ought to have made. 306 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:07,760 Whatever his final words, 307 00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:13,480 soon after dawn on the 9th September, 1087, William died. 308 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:27,120 According to Orderic, when the citizens of Rouen heard the news they were completely terrified, 309 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:29,640 rushing around like drunken men 310 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:33,200 and hiding away their possessions in fear. 311 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:39,120 His knights and barons immediately left William's body, rushing off to protect their estates. 312 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:48,360 Looters now descended on William's body. 313 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:51,480 The man who'd been anointed King of England 314 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:56,240 was stripped of his possessions and left almost naked on the floor. 315 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:03,560 But worse was to follow. 316 00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:13,160 Before his funeral, it was discovered that the specially prepared stone sarcophagus 317 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:16,200 was too small to contain the King's body. 318 00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:24,440 The monks attempted to force William's corpse into the space. 319 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:28,360 According to Orderic, "His swollen belly burst, 320 00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:32,200 "and an intolerable stench filled the noses of the crowd. 321 00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:37,240 "Even the sweet smell of the incense used in the service couldn't mask it." 322 00:34:37,240 --> 00:34:44,640 And so the funeral rites of the most powerful man in Europe were rushed to a hasty conclusion. 323 00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:07,560 The Conqueror was dead. 324 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:10,520 But his legacy would endure. 325 00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:15,560 For the next 500 years, the kings and queens of England 326 00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:20,120 would also rule a large part of northern France. 327 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:23,920 Britain's ties with Scandinavia were broken. 328 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:31,000 To this day, the country still looks south to mainland Europe for its alliances and influences. 329 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:38,000 England was now a Norman fortress. 330 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:44,320 Beyond lay Scotland, Wales and Ireland - three different lands, 331 00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:46,880 three different encounters with the Normans, 332 00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:51,600 three different legacies that endure to this day. 333 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:06,000 First came Scotland, with its own royal dynasty, 334 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:10,640 but poorer than England, and weakened by internal divisions. 335 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:19,400 The Normans didn't have to fight for Scotland. 336 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:21,640 They were invited in. 337 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:33,360 Dunfermline Abbey in Fife, 338 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:39,400 founded before the end of the 11th century by Margaret, Queen of Scotland. 339 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:46,960 Margaret was a member of the Anglo-Saxon royal dynasty. 340 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:50,040 She fled to Scotland after the Battle of Hastings, 341 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:55,000 took refuge in the court of King Malcolm, and became his wife. 342 00:36:59,920 --> 00:37:01,840 Margaret was a formidable figure, 343 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:05,400 with the blood of the old Anglo-Saxon kings flowing in her veins. 344 00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:09,720 She insisted on a new level of ceremony in the Scottish royal court. 345 00:37:09,720 --> 00:37:13,280 And she was also a determined and active Christian 346 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:17,600 who prayed, studied the Bible and did good works for the poor. 347 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:22,000 She and her children would initiate a transformation of Scotland 348 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:29,000 that would make it more like Norman England, but also strong enough to resist it. 349 00:37:32,720 --> 00:37:37,880 After her death in 1093, Margaret was regarded as a saint. 350 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:42,880 Her son David continued his mother's work on this grand abbey. 351 00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:57,640 Dunfermline Abbey was built as a burial place for Scottish kings and queens. 352 00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:01,880 Margaret, Malcolm and three of their sons all lie here. 353 00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:12,960 It was built by a Scottish king, but in the finest Norman style. 354 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:29,360 In Scotland, this Norman masterpiece wasn't a declaration of conquest. 355 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:32,760 It was the symbol of a new alliance. 356 00:38:34,720 --> 00:38:42,200 David's sister was married to the youngest son of William the Conqueror, King Henry I of England. 357 00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:46,160 And David took full advantage of this family connection. 358 00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:55,800 As brother-in-law of the English king, 359 00:38:55,800 --> 00:39:02,320 David had already won rich prizes - land, office, and the title of earl. 360 00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:06,920 And as a relative of the English king, he was unafraid of the Norman barons. 361 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:10,120 He understood that Norman knights and castles 362 00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:14,480 could be used to buttress his kingdom rather than destroy it. 363 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:23,760 When David became king in 1124, he invited large numbers of Norman knights to settle in Scotland. 364 00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:40,440 At this period, there was no fundamental barrier to being a lord both in Scotland and in England. 365 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:42,400 That was the Norman way. 366 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:44,280 And for David, it was perfect, 367 00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:49,880 because it made Scotland more able to resist conquest from the south. 368 00:39:56,400 --> 00:40:03,640 As Norman castles went up across the land, they also helped subdue the King's Scottish opponents. 369 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:08,880 By 1150, David had turned Scotland into a thriving European kingdom. 370 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:14,280 He addressed his royal charters "To all his officials and good men 371 00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:20,720 "of the whole kingdom - French, Scottish, English and others born elsewhere." 372 00:40:22,240 --> 00:40:28,880 Scotland was a multi-ethnic country united under its own royal dynasty. 373 00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:38,400 At the end of the Middle Ages, Scotland survived intact as an independent kingdom. 374 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:41,280 Margaret and her descendents had ensured that. 375 00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:45,160 It was a country partly settled and shaped by the Normans, 376 00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:49,640 but still with its own laws, its own currency, its own identity. 377 00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:56,400 A sovereign nation set apart from England in a way that has consequences to this day. 378 00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:07,560 The story in Wales was very different. 379 00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:14,520 Here the Normans came as conquerors into a land where many Welsh princes were fighting among themselves. 380 00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:26,320 William's forces laid the foundations of their first stone castle in Wales 381 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:29,920 here at Chepstow in 1067. 382 00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:33,680 A monumental keep, designed to intimidate. 383 00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:53,400 This was the base from which the Normans intended to penetrate deeper into Wales. 384 00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:58,480 But it wasn't going to be easy. 385 00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:13,040 To conquer England, William had to defeat one Anglo-Saxon king. 386 00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:18,920 In Wales, the Normans faced many competing princes and independent principalities. 387 00:42:18,920 --> 00:42:21,360 England had been conquered in a day. 388 00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:24,960 The Normans took Wales piece by piece. 389 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:39,440 The conquest of Wales took 200 years. 390 00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:44,760 Norman knights and barons settled in the valleys and coastal plains, 391 00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:48,320 sometimes inter-marrying with the Welsh princely families. 392 00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:04,440 This is Cilgerran Castle, in the border country known as The March Of Wales. 393 00:43:09,080 --> 00:43:14,080 In the 12th century, it was the home of a Welsh princess called Nesta. 394 00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:19,960 She had married one of the Norman settlers, Gerald of Windsor. 395 00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:26,080 Nesta was a famous beauty. 396 00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:29,160 It appears that men found her irresistible. 397 00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:34,360 Her cousin, Owain ap Cadwgan of Powys, was inflamed with passion for her. 398 00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:39,120 One night, he and 15 companions burrowed under the castle door 399 00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:42,480 intending to torch the place and abduct Nesta. 400 00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:45,160 Her husband would surely have been killed. 401 00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:49,800 But the quick-thinking Nesta ensured that Gerald of Windsor escaped 402 00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:52,080 down the toilet chute. 403 00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:14,800 Nesta's sons and grandsons dominated south Wales in the 12th century. 404 00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:22,440 They became part of a new Anglo-Welsh aristocracy, 405 00:44:22,440 --> 00:44:26,880 which maintained an uneasy autonomy from the English throne. 406 00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:30,280 They were known as The Marcher Lords, 407 00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:32,640 the lords of the frontier. 408 00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:41,320 The Marcher Lords were fiercely independent. 409 00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:43,920 In Wales, they were the ultimate authority, 410 00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:48,720 with their own law-courts, chanceries and the right to make peace and war. 411 00:44:48,720 --> 00:44:52,640 In the 13th century, one unfortunate messenger who turned up in the March 412 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:57,720 with a royal writ, was forced to eat it, along with its wax seal. 413 00:44:57,720 --> 00:45:01,960 The King's writ did not run in the March. 414 00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:17,000 Nesta's descendants were at the forefront of the next phase of Norman expansion. 415 00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:19,320 But they weren't all warriors. 416 00:45:19,320 --> 00:45:21,760 One was an influential clergyman. 417 00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:29,080 He grew up here at Manorbier Castle on the south-west coast of Pembrokeshire. 418 00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:32,080 His name was Gerald of Wales. 419 00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:39,000 Gerald was destined for the Church from birth. 420 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:43,040 His older brothers wanted to become knights, like their father. 421 00:45:43,040 --> 00:45:47,080 While they were building sand castles on the beach at Manorbier, 422 00:45:47,080 --> 00:45:50,800 Gerald was busy constructing sand churches. 423 00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:54,960 He was given the best literary education his age could provide. 424 00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:58,520 And he went on to become one of the great historians of his time. 425 00:46:02,800 --> 00:46:08,360 Gerald of Wales would write the most vivid account of the Norman expansion into Ireland. 426 00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:15,640 He records that in 1166, Dermot Macmurrough, the deposed ruler 427 00:46:15,640 --> 00:46:19,720 of the Irish kingdom of Leinster, was trying to win back his throne. 428 00:46:19,720 --> 00:46:23,000 He enlisted Norman mercenaries, 429 00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:28,560 with promises of "land and money, horses and armour, gold and silver". 430 00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:38,000 Dermot found eager recruits among the Marcher Lords, many of them sons and grandsons of Nesta 431 00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:41,560 and Gerald of Windsor - the Fitzgeralds. 432 00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:51,240 Gerald of Wales recorded the exploits of his warrior relatives with a large dose of family pride. 433 00:46:51,240 --> 00:46:54,440 "Who are those who penetrate to the heart of the enemy? 434 00:46:54,440 --> 00:46:56,000 "The Fitzgeralds. 435 00:46:56,000 --> 00:46:58,440 "Who are those who preserve the country? 436 00:46:58,440 --> 00:46:59,960 "The Fitzgeralds. 437 00:46:59,960 --> 00:47:02,800 "Who are they whom the enemy fears? 438 00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:04,400 "The Fitzgeralds." 439 00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:07,440 The Normans were on their way to Ireland. 440 00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:29,280 Ireland was a collection of warring Christian kingdoms. 441 00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:38,560 The first army of Norman mercenaries landed on the south coast, here at Bannow Bay, in 1169. 442 00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:43,520 30 knights, 60 men at arms, and 300 archers. 443 00:47:47,800 --> 00:47:54,640 The actions of this tiny force of Norman Welsh lords would establish links between England and Ireland 444 00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:59,000 that have been a determining feature of Irish history to this day. 445 00:48:06,840 --> 00:48:10,600 Joining forces with the Fitzgeralds was another Norman, 446 00:48:10,600 --> 00:48:15,120 Richard Fitzgilbert de Clare, better known as Strongbow. 447 00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:30,040 Strongbow could trace his descent right back to the dukes of Normandy, 448 00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:33,320 and his family had been amongst the richest in England. 449 00:48:33,320 --> 00:48:36,560 But Strongbow had fallen on hard times. 450 00:48:36,560 --> 00:48:40,920 He came to Ireland attracted by Dermot's offer of riches. 451 00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:46,600 And the Irish King had also promised his daughter Aoife in marriage. 452 00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:55,080 Under the leadership of another Fitzgerald, Raymond le Gros, or Raymond the Fat, 453 00:48:55,080 --> 00:48:58,520 Strongbow's forces prepared for the next assault. 454 00:49:01,520 --> 00:49:06,680 They landed here, at Baginbun, in the spring of 1170. 455 00:49:06,680 --> 00:49:11,400 Centuries later, the battle was still remembered in a traditional rhyme. 456 00:49:11,400 --> 00:49:16,000 "At the creek of Baginbun, Ireland was lost and won." 457 00:49:19,040 --> 00:49:23,960 The small but deadly Norman army was heavily outnumbered by the Irish forces. 458 00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:27,160 100 Normans versus 3,000 Irish. 459 00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:32,000 But Raymond cunningly drove a herd of cattle into the Irish ranks, causing chaos. 460 00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:38,760 And the Normans took advantage of the confusion to slaughter 500 of their enemy and take 70 prisoners. 461 00:49:48,120 --> 00:49:54,080 One of the Marcher knights had brought his mistress with him on campaign, Alice of Abergavenny. 462 00:49:57,680 --> 00:50:03,400 The lover of Alice of Abergavenny was one of the Marchers killed in the battle. 463 00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:05,880 Her revenge was ruthless. 464 00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:11,680 Wielding an axe, she beheaded each one of the prisoners with her own hands, 465 00:50:11,680 --> 00:50:17,160 and the decapitated bodies were then tossed off the cliffs into the sea below. 466 00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:36,560 Not long afterwards, 200 knights and 1,000 infantry 467 00:50:36,560 --> 00:50:40,840 under Strongbow's leadership stormed the town of Waterford. 468 00:50:44,240 --> 00:50:49,400 The Norman mercenaries would quickly restore Dermot to power. 469 00:50:59,560 --> 00:51:04,000 The day after his victory, with the bodies of the dead still piled in the streets, 470 00:51:04,000 --> 00:51:07,960 Strongbow won his prize and married Dermot's daughter. 471 00:51:07,960 --> 00:51:12,640 Soon afterwards, he succeeded Dermot as ruler of Leinster. 472 00:51:12,640 --> 00:51:16,600 Waterford, Wexford and Dublin were in his hands. 473 00:51:16,600 --> 00:51:20,040 Another Norman knight had conquered a kingdom. 474 00:51:24,360 --> 00:51:30,360 Back in England, Henry II, great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was worried. 475 00:51:30,360 --> 00:51:37,240 This band of independent Normans appeared to be setting up a power-base across the Irish Sea. 476 00:51:39,600 --> 00:51:46,120 In 1171, Henry became the first king of England to land on Irish shores. 477 00:51:46,120 --> 00:51:48,560 And he came with a huge army. 478 00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:57,360 400 ships carrying 4,000 soldiers and 500 knights. 479 00:51:59,160 --> 00:52:01,880 But this was a bloodless invasion. 480 00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:08,800 The Irish kings knew it was pointless to resist such a vast force. 481 00:52:08,800 --> 00:52:11,360 Strongbow, too, capitulated. 482 00:52:17,360 --> 00:52:24,000 When Henry returned to England six months later, he left a royal representative in Dublin, 483 00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:29,400 an English presence that would remain for more than 700 years. 484 00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:32,760 Ireland was England's first colony. 485 00:52:32,760 --> 00:52:37,120 The first colonial institutions were moulded here. 486 00:52:37,120 --> 00:52:42,920 And it was also the crucible of a new colonialist mentality. 487 00:52:56,360 --> 00:53:03,040 In the National Library of Ireland, there's a remarkable manuscript dating to the late 12th century. 488 00:53:03,040 --> 00:53:05,840 The Topography Of Ireland. 489 00:53:09,920 --> 00:53:16,160 This is Gerald of Wales' extraordinary account of Ireland in an age of conquest. 490 00:53:16,160 --> 00:53:21,600 And it reveals the emergence of a new attitude towards conquered peoples. 491 00:53:24,360 --> 00:53:31,880 Gerald tells a story about some Anglo-Norman sailors driven to shore by a storm in the Atlantic. 492 00:53:31,880 --> 00:53:36,360 They encounter a little boat being rowed by two Irishmen. 493 00:53:40,040 --> 00:53:42,240 Here they are, 494 00:53:42,240 --> 00:53:44,840 portrayed almost completely naked. 495 00:53:44,840 --> 00:53:48,440 And nakedness is, of course, one of the great symbols of savagery. 496 00:53:48,440 --> 00:53:53,920 These Irishmen marvel at everything they see, as if it's quite unfamiliar. 497 00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:59,600 When they are offered bread and cheese, they decline it, not knowing what these things are. 498 00:53:59,600 --> 00:54:04,360 They say they are accustomed to eat only raw meat, fish and milk. 499 00:54:08,920 --> 00:54:14,080 Nor is their religious education anywhere near civilised standards. 500 00:54:14,080 --> 00:54:17,440 "When asked whether they were Christians and had been baptised, 501 00:54:17,440 --> 00:54:22,200 "they answered that until now they had heard nothing of Christ and knew nothing about him." 502 00:54:26,200 --> 00:54:28,880 The story must be an invention. 503 00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:32,600 The Irish were converted to Christianity long before the English. 504 00:54:32,600 --> 00:54:39,360 What Gerald is doing is creating a powerful image of nakedness, rawness and religious ignorance. 505 00:54:39,360 --> 00:54:43,920 He is justifying the Norman conquest and colonisation in Ireland 506 00:54:43,920 --> 00:54:48,360 by portraying the native Irish as backward and barbaric. 507 00:55:08,720 --> 00:55:14,000 The Normans colonised and exploited the fertile coastal plains of Ireland. 508 00:55:14,000 --> 00:55:18,480 The poorer areas were left to the native Irish. 509 00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:24,480 This gulf between the English and the Irish has never been bridged. 510 00:55:26,360 --> 00:55:31,320 Ireland remains divided, not exactly as it was in the Middle Ages, 511 00:55:31,320 --> 00:55:35,080 but as a direct consequence of the Norman invasion. 512 00:55:38,360 --> 00:55:42,120 In England and in Scotland, the Norman story is one of 513 00:55:42,120 --> 00:55:47,160 assimilation, inter-marriage and adaptation to local society. 514 00:55:49,400 --> 00:55:55,240 But in Ireland, the colonisers thought they were superior to the colonised. 515 00:55:55,240 --> 00:56:01,640 They treated them with disdain and emphasised separation and distance, not integration. 516 00:56:01,640 --> 00:56:04,800 They had taken a turn that was to be crucial 517 00:56:04,800 --> 00:56:09,680 in the later history of European imperialism across the globe. 518 00:56:21,560 --> 00:56:29,520 The Norman expansion into England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland was a decisive historic intervention. 519 00:56:30,520 --> 00:56:35,040 In different ways, it shaped the future of each of these lands. 520 00:56:43,560 --> 00:56:45,960 The Normans conquered England so thoroughly 521 00:56:45,960 --> 00:56:49,680 that the native royal dynasty and aristocracy disappeared forever. 522 00:56:49,680 --> 00:56:56,240 Scotland found a way to do business with the Normans, and has survived as a country distinct from England - 523 00:56:56,240 --> 00:57:02,000 separate if not sovereign, with its own law, church and educational system. 524 00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:05,840 Wales and Ireland became half-conquered countries. 525 00:57:05,840 --> 00:57:09,680 Bitter divisions have flared up regularly ever since. 526 00:57:09,680 --> 00:57:14,520 The Normans didn't only conquer England in 1066, they went on to 527 00:57:14,520 --> 00:57:20,840 create the political and cultural landscape of Britain and Ireland that we know to this day. 528 00:57:33,120 --> 00:57:35,560 In the next programme: 529 00:57:35,560 --> 00:57:38,400 The Normans colonise southern Italy. 530 00:57:40,000 --> 00:57:43,720 They join the Crusades and capture Jerusalem. 531 00:57:46,240 --> 00:57:53,560 And they become patrons of architecture and the arts in the multi-ethnic Kingdom of Sicily. 532 00:57:56,200 --> 00:58:00,680 And you can find Norman castles, churches and battle fields to visit 533 00:58:00,680 --> 00:58:07,920 in your area by searching our online map at bbc.co.uk/history. 534 00:58:09,320 --> 00:58:12,360 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 535 00:58:12,360 --> 00:58:15,400 Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk.