The British History Podcast

You may have noticed that Hereward the Wake seems to keep disappearing from the story and then reappearing again. This reflects the actual record, where he pops up only to vanish back into the mist just as quickly. His life appears to have been enigmatic. We only know him by these tidbits. But, even those small moments he appears in the record, he manages to stand out. Hereward was a man on the go...

When we left off, William (satisfied with the damage he had inflicted upon the people of the North) marched south towards Chester.

When we ended the last episode. William and his knights had ravaged the North.  He had spared nothing and no one.  Men, women, children, animals, buildings, even the plants.  Everything between York and Durham was annihilated, a stretch of nearly 100 miles.

Weeks in the rain and cold, marching through mud and picking through forests, had finally - in spite of Northumbria’s best efforts - ended with William reaching his goal. The King arrived in York.

William was charging North. If he was going to hold on to his new kingdom, he had to counter this threat in person.

News of the victory at York spread fast, and people everywhere were finding their courage.

It was Fall of 1069, and the Danes were coming.

The Godwinsons are back in England. Harold’s sons, along with a fleet of 64 Irish ships loaded down with fighters, have just hit the shores.  And it seems like they were students of history, because they were taking up the traditional family business.

Things in the North were dire. This was a problem, because as Orderic tells us, this wasn’t just a minor local revolt.  This was intended to be much bigger.

They appeared as if from nowhere. A great force of men and horses… armed to the teeth… charging towards the city of York.

Earl Robert lay dead at Durham. Along with 700 of his men. At least. The Chronicle bumps the numbers up a bit, claiming Earl Robert had died 900 of his soldiers at Durham. Either way, that’s a lot of dead Normans.

Happy New Year! It was 1069… nice… and as the new year dawned…things in England were getting a bit weird.

I feel for the English commoners in the late 1060’s. They had nothing to do with the arrival of the Normans… everything they suffered was the result of the actions of the nobles. Exclusively.

In early 1068… as William was preparing for the tactical Coronation of Matilda… the three sons of Harold Godwinson were in Ireland. They had come to meet with King Diarmad of Dublin and prepare an invasion force to re-take England.

Here is the beginning of Hereward the Wake. And to tell this story, we have to begin with the legend. Because nothing in this story is straightforward. Probably because at least some of it is true.

Gytha and her supporters had fled into the Severn Estuary, and it was the final nail in the coffin of the Exeter rebellion.

Exeter stood in open defiance against William and his army.

Earl Osulf II of Bamburgh was a Northumbrian, and he had earned his seat ruling over the region North of the Tyne in true Northumbrian fashion.

Last week we left off with Dover with some good old fashioned french on french violence… Count Eustace had attacked and attempted to seize the Southern Town…

Feudalism had officially come to England, courtesy of the Normans…

1067 was a time of incredible change within England. Fortresses were being constructed everywhere. Existing fortresses were seized and then manned by foreign mercenaries. Estates and farms in the surrounding areas were being seized and handed over to many of these same foreigners.

Do you remember the holy man who asked Edgar the AEtheling to confirm him as the Abbot of Peterborough, just after the Battle of Hastings?

It was Christmas Day of 1066 and England was crowning its new King.