To the victor the spoils
King & Conqueror dramatises the bloody conflict that ended with a fateful battle in 1066. Historian David Musgrove fills in the details
BBC
Add King & Conqueror to your watchlist
Ad
The BBC’s latest historical drama, King & Conqueror, has some strong talent in its leading men. You’ve got James Norton playing the tragic fallen hero of English history, Harold Godwinson (King Harold II), up against Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as his nemesis William the Conqueror. Skulking behind them is Eddie Marsan as King Edward the Confessor, the man whose death without an heir in 1066 provided the context for the battle for the crown between Harold and William.
The story behind the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest isn’t just one long, manly fight club, however – the storyline provides potent roles for women, too. Emily Beecham is King Harold’s wife Edith Swan-Neck, Clémence Poésy plays William’s queen, Matilda of Flanders, and Juliet Stevenson puts in a great shift as Lady Emma, the manipulative mother of King Edward. Throughout, the women are very much portrayed as, if not the powers behind the thrones, at least key players in the politics behind the fighting.
James Norton and Emily Beecham in King & Conqueror. BBC / CBS Studios
King & Conqueror is an eight-part dramatisation of how Duke William of Normandy came to be King William I of England. I’m not giving away any spoilers in saying that William’s coronation came at the cost of the death of the previous king of England, Harold II, on the battlefield at Hastings in October 1066.
The Norman conquest was the culmination of a half-century of political wrangling following an earlier invasion of England by the Danish King Cnut in 1016, who wrested power from the Anglo-Saxon King Aethelred (lumbered with the slightly unfair epithet of “the Unready”) and his son Edmund Ironside. Cnut ruled for two decades and, during that time, the Godwin family rose to prominence. Earl Godwin, the father of the man who’d become King Harold II, was a key figure at court.
William's victory in 1066 led to the replacement of the English ruling class
After Cnut’s death, his Scandinavian sons Harold I and Harthacnut briefly reigned, before the Anglo-Saxon royal line was restored in the shape of King Edward the Confessor. Edward was the son of King Aethelred and his wife Emma of Normandy. But – plot twist – Emma married Cnut after Aethelred’s death, and her sons included both Harthacnut and Edward. So, she was queen to two kings, and then mother to two more.
James Norton as Harold, Earl of Wessex in King & Conqueror. Lilja Jons/BBC
Emma seemingly favoured Harthacnut over Edward. This led to a difficult dynamic between mother and son after Edward replaced Harthacnut on the throne. Edward’s wife was Edith, a daughter of Earl Godwin, but she did not bear the king a child. The lack of an heir was a problem, but there was another major source of family tension: Earl Godwin was believed to have been responsible for the murder of the king’s brother, Alfred.
James Norton as Harold. BBC / CBS Studios
In short, it’s messy. King & Conqueror charts that tangled story and explains how the stock of the Godwin family rose and fell during Edward’s reign. It also tracks the career of Duke William in Normandy, as he built his powerbase and kept a weather eye on goings-on in England. A key undercurrent is the idea that William received encouragement from Lady Emma to consider bidding for the English crown himself. Everything comes to a head in 1066; when Edward dies, Harold takes the throne, and William masses a fleet and invades.
The Bayeux Tapestry portrays Harold's fate. Getty
Throw in a militaristic Viking, King Harald Hardrada of Norway, who also wants a piece of the action, and you’ve got the makings of a very bloody year that features three set-piece battles, culminating in the clash at Hastings.
The drama of 1066 is hard to ignore, but it’s always struck me as slightly odd that we put such stock in a story where the English were on the losing side. That’s partly because it’s got such a fantastic visual reminder in the Bayeux Tapestry – which is coming to the UK next year on loan to the British Museum, so we’ll be able to see it in all its technicolor gory glory.
I made a four-part podcast series for HistoryExtra about 1066 with the medieval historian Marc Morris, and when I asked him why the Conquest matters, he pointed out that it led to the more or less wholesale replacement of the English ruling class, and the consequent introduction here of the French language. These new rulers radically altered the British landscape by building castles all over the place.
The Normans also ushered in a different, less Game of Thrones-style way of doing politics – capturing, imprisoning and ransoming your opponents became the done thing rather than blinding, mutilating or murdering them. Those are just some of the reasons the Norman Conquest is still on our radar.
Any historical drama is going to take liberties
Given all of that, it’s surprising this pivotal era in our history hasn’t had a truly effective big- or small-screen retelling. The makers of King & Conqueror are presumably hoping to change that. The series makes a good job of capturing the confusion caused by the failure of King Edward to produce or nominate a clear heir, but the script doesn’t hold very tight to a narrative that historians would recognise. Some elements are pure fiction, some names have been changed (because you can’t have too many people called the same thing), and some important figures don’t feature at all. I’m sure it’s in aid of a pacey storyline and, if nothing else, it gives historical enthusiasts something to talk about.
James Norton as Harold, Earl of Wessex in King & Conqueror BBC
The series was filmed mostly in Iceland, presumably to give it a Viking noir flavour, but this means that southern England, where most of the action takes place, doesn’t look itself all the time. As is often the case with films about the Middle Ages, everything is quite dark and monotone. That’s the sort of thing that rankles medieval historians, who know that colour was important to people at the time (just look at the Bayeux Tapestry). And speaking of colour, the colourblind casting with some of the characters is already a talking point.
Any historical drama is going to take liberties with the narrative, and King & Conqueror is no different. Though you might know how the story ends, you’ll perhaps be surprised at how Harold and William get to the bloody finale. That’s reason enough to watch it.
Ad
Dr David Musgrove is Content Director for BBC History Magazine and the HistoryExtra podcast and website. He is also co-author, with Michael Lewis, of The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry (Thames and Hudson)
Ad
Ad
Get the Christmas double issue
Too much to watch at Christmas? Let Radio Times do the choosing to find something the whole family will enjoy.
Loading...
Ad
Loading...