They were the Northmen who changed history. Starting as heathen Viking warriors who plundered and settled in Northern France and forged the new Duchy of Normandy, becoming the most ferocious conquerors that medieval Europe had ever seen, and giving England its most famous date: 1066.

In this two part series, Dr Eleanor Janega sets off across Normandy to discover who this band of rugged warriors, settlers and rulers were.

In episode 2, Eleanor explores William’s precarious childhood and early military experience through the great castles and countryside of Normandy. By 1066, the Normans were hungry for more land and power, and William took advantage of tumultuous events across the channel to launch an invasion of England.

Eleanor follows the route of conquest by getting up close to the Bayeux Tapestry, the great piece of Norman propaganda which has survived for nearly 1000 years.

In England, Eleanor examines the bastions of Norman power at the Tower of London and Rochester Castle, and discovers how the Norman conquest of England was much harder won than the Bayeux Tapestry might have us believe.

Finally, examining the evidence in the Domesday book, we unpick how the Norman conquest brought about the most radical change in society that England had ever seen. Life would never be the same.

For en even deeper dive into Rollo, the Viking outlaw became a respected Frankish leader and founder of a conquering dynasty, check out this episode of History Hit's Gone Medieval Podcast: https://podfollow.com/gone-medieval/episode/b0b8c952f6ec96718f7771b11157f546bf204c4f/view. To expand even further into the medieval world, Eleanor spoke to Dr. Levi Roach to consider how the Normans fared in 11th century Italy, on this episode of the podcast: https://podfollow.com/gone-medieval/episode/34aa2a72f5ac6eeb53c7a2e3449b36e92242d9b1/view.