NORMAN CONQUESTS

The fearsome knights of Normandy did not stop at the successful invasion of England: they forged a dynasty that changed the face of Europe

- MARTIN WALL

One date is indelibly seared into English memory: 1066. Even those with little interest in or knowledge of history know enough about that fateful year to recall the crucial incidents, portrayed with such skill and attention to detail in the Bayeux Tapestry. Following the death of King Edward ‘The Confessor’ on 5 January, Harold became king amid controversy over a promise that Edward had made to William of Normandy for him to inherit his kingdom. The Normans prepared to invade, but were prevented from leaving their harbours by foul weather. It was then that the Viking army unexpectedly attacked, led by King Harald Hardrada of Norway and Godwinson’s brother, Tostig. They were defeated by Harold at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.

All these events and Harold’s dash south to confront William at the Battle of Hastings are well known. But who were these Normans? How did they achieve one of the most thorough military occupations in history, utterly overwhelming a population of nearly 2 million with an army which likely never exceeded 15,000 men? Were the Anglo-Saxons and their Anglo-Danish neighbours so corrupt and weak that they relinquished their liberty within the space of a few brief years? Or were the Normans simply so ruthless that their invasion proved irresistible? Perhaps most important of all, how did the Normans manage to take such an iron grip on the country that the institutions they bequeathed to us have remained in many cases intact, so that England has never fallen again to a foreign conqueror during almost a millennium which has elapsed since? The Normans were a truly extraordinary people, a force too powerful for the divided and senescent Anglo-Saxon state to repel.