TRIGGERnometry - The True History of England with Dan Snow

00:00:00.780 Let's start at the beginning. What is England?

00:00:03.400 England emerges in the aftermath of the Roman province of Britannia.

00:00:09.000 By 950, England is recognisable to date.

00:00:13.100 And that's when we get the greatest hero of English medieval history.

00:00:15.920 It's called William the Marshal.

00:00:17.380 And then we see the House of Lords and the House of Commons developing.

00:00:20.080 Extraordinary thing about the Plantagenet family.

00:00:21.960 You get a very uneven performance by its kings.

00:00:24.220 Richard the Lionheart, John Softsword.

00:00:26.520 You know, Edward I, Edward II.

00:00:30.580 Absolute useless muppet.

00:00:32.640 You get Wars of the Roses. You get a civil war in England.

00:00:35.240 Families fighting families.

00:00:37.180 The printing press has been discovered.

00:00:40.180 The rest of the world has been discovered.

00:00:42.200 From the Tudors onwards, then we're starting to feel this kind of acceleration.

00:00:45.900 In the 17th century, we've got civil war.

00:00:47.520 No one would have said, Britain, that one, those guys there, they're about to run the world.

00:00:51.340 And then we get the monumental global clashes of the 20th century.

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00:01:17.240 Dan Snow, welcome to Trigonometry.

00:01:18.400 Thanks for having me, guys.

00:01:19.540 Oh, what a pleasure to have you on the show.

00:01:21.560 We've been enjoying a lot of the things that you've been producing lately.

00:01:24.880 But the thing we really wanted to talk about is the history of this country, and England in particular.

00:01:29.700 The whole thing.

00:01:30.400 The whole thing.

00:01:31.020 Okay.

00:01:31.440 On which you are fantastic.

00:01:33.000 You've got brilliant stuff on YouTube that, you know, it's just so, so interesting.

00:01:36.680 And we were talking before we started politically now, too.

00:01:40.680 England, English identity, and therefore its history have become quite a topic, too.

00:01:45.260 So it's a perfect moment.

00:01:46.720 Thank you very much.

00:01:47.280 Yeah.

00:01:47.460 I mean, people have always reached into the past to try and win political points in the present.

00:01:52.040 But it feels like we're living through a time when that's certainly the case.

00:01:54.480 Yeah, it is.

00:01:55.680 Well, let's start at the beginning.

00:01:57.120 What is England?

00:01:59.260 The beginning, the beginning, the beginning.

00:02:00.820 I mean, England is an interesting entity because it's only part of the job.

00:02:05.340 Let's start.

00:02:05.680 You probably start with the geography.

00:02:06.820 And it's extraordinary.

00:02:10.080 There's so much terminological inexactitude when it comes to England.

00:02:12.220 People say England's an island.

00:02:13.240 People use England to mean the United Kingdom.

00:02:15.140 They use England to mean Britain.

00:02:17.080 England.

00:02:18.220 So you've got an island, roughly speaking, called Britain.

00:02:20.980 And interesting, if you go into the prehistory, what we find is quite a lot.

00:02:25.880 We think in Stone Age Britain, and indeed beyond Britain, we find quite a lot of homogeneity.

00:02:32.120 We find, we've just learned, for example, that the altar stone at Stonehenge possibly, probably comes from Scotland.

00:02:37.960 We see enormous similarities between Stonehenge and henges, circles, not stone circles, in Orkney.

00:02:45.620 We know, of course, those blue stones, the famous, the medium-sized stones you see at Stonehenge,

00:02:50.220 they come from the Welsh hills that are transported.

00:02:52.440 So it is probable that there was a sense of a community that stretched across the island and perhaps even beyond.

00:03:01.660 England emerges in the aftermath of the Roman province of Britannia.

00:03:07.860 OK, so for nearly 500 years, for a quarter of English recorded history,

00:03:11.780 we are incorporated into this vast empire that extends from, at times, the highlands of Scotland,

00:03:16.680 but most of the time from, sort of, roughly speaking, Carlisle, Fabian's Wall, you'll be familiar with,

00:03:20.760 all the way to North Africa, all the way as far, occasionally, as the Persian Gulf, the waters of the Persian Gulf.

00:03:26.680 We are enmeshed into that gigantic transnational imperial project.

00:03:31.320 That comes to a dramatic, well, that comes to a dramatic end in Britain in the 5th century.

00:03:37.580 In other parts of that Roman world, bits of it survive, chunks of it really do survive.

00:03:42.580 Other bits, kind of, there's a process of transition.

00:03:45.080 But in Britain, it's quite exciting.

00:03:46.340 There's a sort of, it is, it is, it is at one end of the scale.

00:03:49.840 There is a Mad Max-like collapse.

00:03:52.140 There is a catastrophic disaster that engulfs the people, the people of the province of Britannia,

00:03:58.080 which is, roughly speaking, England and Wales.

00:04:01.240 OK.

00:04:02.280 We have very few, we have virtually nothing written down from the 5th century in that period.

00:04:06.020 We hear a little bit from the rest of the Roman and post-Roman world.

00:04:10.300 We hear that there are swarms of migration across the North Sea from what is now northern Germany

00:04:15.980 and the Rhine estuary.

00:04:17.700 They are, they are like the wrath of God.

00:04:21.080 And we hear from the one source we do have from somewhere near this period of the Romanized

00:04:26.900 Britons having to choose between death at the hands of these newcomers and being driven

00:04:31.980 into the sea and they have a choice from drowning.

00:04:33.960 OK.

00:04:35.080 So you've also got, and this really does reflect English history subsequently, the geography

00:04:41.560 of England is you're very vulnerable to invaders across the Channel.

00:04:44.580 People think of the English Channel.

00:04:46.180 You've all been told that the English Channel is a moat that defends England, but it is

00:04:49.780 not.

00:04:50.100 It is a highway.

00:04:51.280 In fact, we're seeing this.

00:04:53.420 The English Channel, it is easier.

00:04:55.380 I was going to say, it feels like it at the moment.

00:04:57.000 But it is easier to travel across, until the invention of the railway in 1830, 200 years

00:05:01.840 ago.

00:05:02.220 In fact, this year, in fact, first railway journey.

00:05:03.960 It's a passenger railway journey.

00:05:05.340 Before the invention of the railway, before the invention of good roads, of canals, and

00:05:09.920 then, of course, air travel and internal combustion and cars, it is easier to travel across water,

00:05:14.920 especially with bulky subjects, bulky things you want to take with you.

00:05:19.960 It is easier to travel across water than it is across land.

00:05:22.300 It's much easier for me to get from Brittany to Cornwall than it is to walk and drag a load

00:05:28.100 of tin from Cornwall to Birmingham, right?

00:05:31.100 So the sea around us is a bridge.

00:05:34.200 And you see that in this period.

00:05:35.780 It's an absolute nightmare.

00:05:37.240 You've got people attacking across what we now call the North Sea.

00:05:40.660 You've got people in what is today Scotland, raiding deep into what is now England.

00:05:45.820 You've got the Irish attacking into Wales.

00:05:48.580 It is a nightmare.

00:05:50.420 We seem to have a bit of climate change.

00:05:51.760 We've got harvest failure.

00:05:52.820 We have massive trade discontinuity.

00:05:55.740 So people's diets are transformed.

00:05:57.960 You're no longer able to access the Mediterranean foods that had been traded freely before.

00:06:02.240 And we have unimaginable bloodshed and chaos.

00:06:06.840 Let me just pause you just one second there.

00:06:08.660 Is this all partly happening because the Roman Empire is now weakened and it's withdrawn?

00:06:12.820 Yes, it's withdrawn.

00:06:13.320 So the people who've remained, who used to have the protection of this great empire,

00:06:18.160 on the periphery of the empire are now effectively exposed to the vicissitudes of the hordes

00:06:23.720 that have been held back by the empire.

00:06:25.400 Vicissitudes is exactly the right word.

00:06:27.040 So this is that the Roman Empire has withdrawn for its same position,

00:06:29.940 like our blood in our extremities on a cold day,

00:06:33.560 retreats to protect the organs at its core.

00:06:36.480 Your fingers, your nose, your toes get cold.

00:06:39.380 And little old England, little old Britannia is on the edge of the known world.

00:06:42.800 It is the edge.

00:06:43.860 It is the absolute edge of the known world for the Romans.

00:06:46.620 And so the Romans, so we have an evidence of the Brits writing a letter

00:06:50.980 in the early to towards them, you know, getting on in the fifth century.

00:06:55.660 And they say, things are terrible here.

00:06:59.020 Please send troops.

00:07:00.580 Please.

00:07:01.500 We are used to living as Romano-British.

00:07:04.260 You have disarmed us.

00:07:05.260 You have given us the benefits of empire.

00:07:06.720 You have claimed the monopoly of violence.

00:07:08.760 We are no longer used to defending our farmstead.

00:07:11.040 We are no longer used to organising local militias,

00:07:13.180 because you used to do that for me.

00:07:14.220 You were part of a big centralised bureaucratic state with a regular army.

00:07:18.000 And we don't know what the reply was, or if there was a reply,

00:07:20.640 but it was probably something like, look, mate, Attila the Hun is watering his horses

00:07:24.500 in the Poe in northern Italy.

00:07:26.780 We have got problems a lot closer to home.

00:07:29.620 We are not going to send troops across northern France, across the Channel,

00:07:33.460 to try and deal with a province.

00:07:35.500 That was always a nightmare for the Romans.

00:07:37.260 It was always a horror show for the Romans.

00:07:39.940 You just look at a map.

00:07:41.400 People think about Rome and Britain.

00:07:42.700 Again, it occupied only a portion of this North Atlantic archipelago.

00:07:47.320 It was always deeply vulnerable to invaders from across the North Sea.

00:07:52.460 That's why the city of London got a Roman wall around it.

00:07:56.320 That's quite a tell.

00:07:57.860 At some stage in the 4th century, they put a wall between London and its own shore.

00:08:04.200 So there's a wall around the outside of the city of London.

00:08:06.920 They then wall off the Thames foreshore from London as well.

00:08:10.620 That tells you that something is going on.

00:08:12.340 So there is always a problem with trans-maritime raiders from northern Europe.

00:08:17.320 But you've now got a problem with the unconquered parts of the archipelago.

00:08:20.300 So it was a nightmare of a province anyway,

00:08:23.780 one of the most heavily militarised provinces of the Roman Empire.

00:08:26.240 It is now free for all, and the Romans aren't going back.

00:08:30.220 There's nowhere they're going back.

00:08:31.660 In fact, the Romans are not going back to nearly all their former Western Empire.

00:08:36.660 And so you get this period.

00:08:37.920 And in that extraordinary three, four hundred years that follows,

00:08:42.440 you get the emergence of something called England.

00:08:44.560 You get the emergence of Wales.

00:08:46.460 We start to see that the political complexion of this island takes shape in a way that endures.

00:08:51.900 How does that happen?

00:08:53.100 Because you've got all these invaders.

00:08:54.660 How does that get resolved?

00:08:55.820 Does somebody win?

00:08:57.380 How does it happen?

00:08:58.260 It gets resolved by the sword.

00:09:00.480 It gets resolved by the sword.

00:09:01.760 It is a process of conquest.

00:09:04.720 Now, there's very interesting studies being done around DNA at the moment.

00:09:08.200 Are these invaders replacing indigenous elites,

00:09:12.420 as we think the Normans did in 1066, although we're jumping forward there?

00:09:15.780 Are high-status warriors arriving, killing, marrying into,

00:09:23.480 procreating with local elites and just taking over,

00:09:26.400 and then the peasants beneath them remaining ethnically similar?

00:09:30.760 Or are we talking ethnic cleansing?

00:09:33.080 Are we talking driving back, murdering, removing people from that,

00:09:37.640 and replacing them with settlers from elsewhere?

00:09:39.380 The DNA evidence is so fascinating.

00:09:41.200 Evidence changes on this.

00:09:42.680 One thing I think linguistically that's very interesting is,

00:09:45.680 in the area that we now call England,

00:09:48.180 there is almost no survival of words from ancient British,

00:09:54.560 which is, roughly speaking, Welsh today.

00:09:56.560 So, and the Welsh, we call, they call themselves Britons.

00:10:02.440 They are, they are the Romano-British.

00:10:05.400 And indeed, there were Welsh in places like Strathclyde.

00:10:07.340 There were Welsh that were pushed west across the island.

00:10:09.880 Now, they are restricted to what we call Wales.

00:10:11.620 And Wales is the very early English word for stranger, slave,

00:10:16.180 like foreigner, weirdo.

00:10:17.880 They become the Welsh, which is why the Welsh do not call themselves Welsh.

00:10:20.500 And in that area, Shropshire, Northamptonshire, Yorkshire,

00:10:26.000 no words survive.

00:10:27.560 We don't have any words.

00:10:29.380 So, would that support the ethnic cleansing theory?

00:10:31.740 I think it does.

00:10:32.460 I think it does, right?

00:10:33.300 I think it doesn't.

00:10:34.380 So, these people come in, they slaughter everybody.

00:10:36.320 So, we have got slaughter.

00:10:37.520 So, we've got people around.

00:10:38.660 You'll remember these now.

00:10:39.820 We've got the Angles and the Jutes and the Saxons,

00:10:42.420 and they're landing here.

00:10:43.740 They're landing in, and we see in some areas,

00:10:46.960 like the archaeology, in some areas,

00:10:49.000 we see a fusion of culture.

00:10:52.060 So, burials incorporate elements of old Romano-British.

00:10:56.180 And we do see holdouts of, there's a castle down in Cornwall,

00:11:01.300 which people associate with King Arthur.

00:11:02.820 He's a figure from this period,

00:11:03.840 a mythological figure from this period.

00:11:05.380 You see holdouts, areas where there is still trade

00:11:07.920 with the Mediterranean world,

00:11:09.140 where some of that Romano-British culture may endure,

00:11:12.080 whether it's Christianity can hold out.

00:11:14.160 But roughly speaking, over the next 200 years,

00:11:16.680 these new, largely Germanic-speaking settlers come in

00:11:19.900 and occupy nearly all of what is today in England,

00:11:23.360 and really all of what is, Cornwall's a bit more questionable,

00:11:25.880 but nearly all of what is today in England,

00:11:27.040 and then more than that, right up into Scotland as well.

00:11:29.600 Okay?

00:11:30.040 So, Scotland, south of Edinburgh,

00:11:31.800 bur is the clue there,

00:11:33.640 that's a Germanic, that's an old English suffix.

00:11:37.540 So, that was originally a kind of English castle.

00:11:39.920 We push all the way up,

00:11:40.900 and indeed the English will invade right up into North Scotland.

00:11:43.460 An extraordinary battle called Nectonsmere,

00:11:45.300 fought in the Highlands of Scotland,

00:11:46.140 actually saw these northern English troops,

00:11:49.280 these Northumbrians, catastrophically defeated.

00:11:51.220 Had that not taken place,

00:11:52.160 it's conceivable there would be no Scotland,

00:11:53.700 and that would have been incorporated

00:11:54.600 into this new kind of,

00:11:55.980 this new Germanic kingdom that becomes England.

00:11:58.760 But it becomes,

00:11:59.940 initially there's all sorts of different,

00:12:01.560 there's Northumbria,

00:12:02.360 and there's a kingdom of Elmett,

00:12:04.020 and there's a kingdom of Kent,

00:12:05.100 and there's all this kaleidoscopic post-imperial world.

00:12:08.680 You can imagine it.

00:12:09.520 This is a,

00:12:10.200 the great,

00:12:12.660 the overlord has departed,

00:12:14.160 and what you get are these kind of competing entities

00:12:16.280 that emerge underneath it all.

00:12:17.720 No one is able to impose their will strategically

00:12:20.960 on everyone else.

00:12:22.160 At times,

00:12:23.600 Mercia in the middle

00:12:24.360 will sort of conquer everyone else,

00:12:26.120 and people will bend the needs of Mercia.

00:12:27.520 But after the charismatic warrior king dies,

00:12:30.420 then Wessex will rise,

00:12:32.180 East Anglia will rise,

00:12:33.460 Northumbria will rise.

00:12:34.460 So it could have,

00:12:35.020 we could have had any of these,

00:12:36.640 we could have our capital city in Tamworth,

00:12:39.460 if Mercia had gone on in its period of hegemony,

00:12:41.700 we could have our capital city in York.

00:12:43.620 We could have our,

00:12:44.080 and yet,

00:12:45.160 we could have our capital city in Winchester,

00:12:46.600 we almost did.

00:12:47.240 But,

00:12:47.660 and what happens is the reason

00:12:49.080 that that fuses,

00:12:50.520 that kaleidoscope of,

00:12:52.000 of people with very similar languages,

00:12:56.740 similar religious beliefs,

00:12:57.960 and indeed there's a creeping Christianization

00:13:00.680 that takes place

00:13:01.460 over,

00:13:03.000 you know,

00:13:03.180 in 600s,

00:13:03.900 700s,

00:13:04.680 that those,

00:13:05.260 those,

00:13:05.560 those Germanic people

00:13:07.960 are slowly Christianized.

00:13:10.240 They're sort of impressed

00:13:10.900 by what's going on across the water.

00:13:13.000 They,

00:13:13.180 they realize they can access

00:13:14.580 elite culture,

00:13:15.960 trade,

00:13:16.500 they get useful monks

00:13:17.380 who can write things down

00:13:18.340 and help them collect taxes

00:13:19.360 and transmit historical knowledge

00:13:21.240 and they can read Vigetius

00:13:22.260 and be better at war.

00:13:23.580 You know,

00:13:23.740 so they,

00:13:24.240 the,

00:13:24.380 the lunar pull of Christianity

00:13:26.680 of,

00:13:27.380 is quite powerful.

00:13:28.300 So they become Christianized,

00:13:29.300 but they are all very distinct entities,

00:13:31.880 kingdoms at this point

00:13:32.640 and what enables England to emerge

00:13:35.260 is the coming of the Vikings,

00:13:37.720 the Northman.

00:13:38.720 The Northman comes

00:13:39.520 at the end of the 8th century.

00:13:41.720 The Northmen come

00:13:42.680 and they attack Lindisfarne,

00:13:44.040 famously,

00:13:44.540 this island monastic community

00:13:46.020 off the,

00:13:46.440 off the northeast coast

00:13:47.540 of Northumbria.

00:13:49.340 It was a raid

00:13:49.980 but they didn't go home

00:13:50.700 and everyone's like,

00:13:51.260 what was that?

00:13:53.440 The men of God were slaughtered,

00:13:55.020 dragons were seen in the sky,

00:13:56.580 this was,

00:13:56.920 this was end of time stuff

00:13:58.620 and over the next

00:14:00.500 80 or so years

00:14:02.320 you see Vikings

00:14:03.080 coming to raid

00:14:03.800 and then settle.

00:14:04.740 They do so in Scotland,

00:14:05.520 they do so in Ireland,

00:14:06.280 they do so right across

00:14:07.400 and into other parts of Europe

00:14:09.060 as well

00:14:09.460 and the Vikings

00:14:11.180 do Wessex a favour

00:14:14.300 because they destroy

00:14:15.840 the Kingdom of Northumbria,

00:14:17.300 they destroy the Kingdom

00:14:18.300 of East Anglia,

00:14:19.160 they destroy the Kingdom

00:14:20.260 of Mercy,

00:14:20.900 they occupy it,

00:14:22.360 they bring their religion,

00:14:25.140 their trading networks,

00:14:26.640 their culture

00:14:27.660 and you end up

00:14:28.960 with the last kingdom

00:14:29.920 clinging on famously

00:14:31.040 which is Wessex

00:14:31.880 which is the space

00:14:32.800 around Winchester

00:14:33.680 up into the Cotswolds

00:14:35.320 almost as far as London

00:14:36.960 down towards Somerset

00:14:38.680 and Devon

00:14:39.200 and there comes

00:14:40.360 this critical moment,

00:14:41.240 it's very exciting

00:14:41.840 for people who have

00:14:42.260 English history

00:14:42.800 which is when the Viking,

00:14:44.460 the great heathen army

00:14:45.540 launches one last

00:14:46.820 great assault

00:14:47.680 on Wessex

00:14:49.300 and Wessex has a king

00:14:50.720 called Alfred.

00:14:52.400 Alfred

00:14:52.820 is chased

00:14:54.220 out of his palaces,

00:14:55.080 he's wandering

00:14:57.120 friendless,

00:14:58.460 almost helpless

00:14:59.120 in the marshes

00:15:00.240 of Somerset

00:15:00.840 and from there

00:15:01.660 he launches

00:15:02.120 one of the great

00:15:02.640 comebacks of history,

00:15:04.080 one of the great

00:15:04.540 most dramatic stories

00:15:05.660 in history

00:15:06.500 from the marshy island

00:15:09.260 the difficult to penetrate

00:15:10.860 ground of Somerset

00:15:12.140 he sends messengers out,

00:15:13.660 he manages to build

00:15:14.380 an army that will meet him,

00:15:15.580 he leaves that place,

00:15:16.500 one of the great moments,

00:15:17.520 he leaves

00:15:18.180 going to a rendezvous

00:15:19.540 where he's told people

00:15:20.460 to meet him

00:15:20.860 but he doesn't know

00:15:21.560 whether his nobles,

00:15:23.000 whether his landowners

00:15:23.900 have reached an accommodation

00:15:24.940 with the Vikings,

00:15:25.780 he doesn't know

00:15:26.060 if they're going to look fine,

00:15:27.160 we'll bend the knee,

00:15:27.980 you leave us alone,

00:15:29.420 you take a third

00:15:30.020 of our stuff

00:15:30.480 but you know

00:15:30.840 on the whole

00:15:31.280 we'll recognise you

00:15:32.140 as sovereign

00:15:32.480 and he gets to that

00:15:33.840 meeting point

00:15:34.380 and there's an army,

00:15:36.200 the people of Wessex

00:15:37.060 have responded

00:15:37.860 and he leads them

00:15:39.080 to this great epic battle,

00:15:40.460 he destroys a Viking army,

00:15:41.860 he forces the Viking king

00:15:42.960 to be baptised

00:15:44.160 into the Christian faith

00:15:45.160 and he roughly speaking

00:15:46.320 divides up

00:15:47.320 southern England

00:15:48.600 in particular

00:15:48.900 between the Dane law

00:15:50.560 that people might have heard of

00:15:51.460 which is the Viking area

00:15:52.480 to the east

00:15:53.120 and the names are still

00:15:54.660 Corby, Darby, Grimsby,

00:15:57.380 those are the Danish place names,

00:16:00.060 BBY means sort of place

00:16:01.460 or town or whatever

00:16:02.080 and then if you look

00:16:04.280 at those place name

00:16:05.160 concentrations

00:16:05.800 you'll see there's just

00:16:06.540 a huge amount in Dane law

00:16:07.840 down the eastern side

00:16:08.580 of the country

00:16:09.060 and then you get the process,

00:16:10.740 Alfred sits there

00:16:11.440 and he works out,

00:16:12.320 he goes I'm going to reconquer,

00:16:13.720 I'm going to take the fight

00:16:14.680 to the Vikings

00:16:15.220 but I'm going to do so

00:16:16.820 not to restore

00:16:17.700 Mercia

00:16:18.280 and Northumbria

00:16:19.400 and East Anglia

00:16:20.180 because I

00:16:21.240 and also I don't think

00:16:23.300 I'm going to meet,

00:16:24.220 I'm not going to

00:16:24.980 coalition build

00:16:26.460 with the Mercians

00:16:27.360 if I'm saying

00:16:28.220 hey Wessex is here baby

00:16:29.580 we're here to reconquer you

00:16:30.880 I'm going to rebrand it

00:16:32.680 we are English

00:16:33.860 we are English

00:16:34.980 I'm going to be king

00:16:35.780 of the English

00:16:36.380 I'm rebranding

00:16:38.600 Wessex

00:16:39.340 and beyond Wessex

00:16:40.400 I'm creating

00:16:41.020 a capacious idea

00:16:42.520 of ethnicity,

00:16:44.760 of linguistic,

00:16:45.900 cultural identity

00:16:46.860 which is English

00:16:47.960 which gives us

00:16:49.080 the right

00:16:49.640 to march into York

00:16:51.200 and go

00:16:51.680 don't worry

00:16:52.480 you're being liberated

00:16:53.160 by your fellow Englishman

00:16:55.320 hey?

00:16:56.240 you like that?

00:16:57.280 and are you saying

00:16:58.240 this is kind of

00:16:59.500 a fabrication

00:17:00.040 or is it really based

00:17:01.340 on a shared history

00:17:04.060 shared language

00:17:04.800 hey, identity

00:17:06.260 we can get into it

00:17:07.620 if you've been following

00:17:09.200 the immigration debate

00:17:10.320 you'll know

00:17:11.200 how different

00:17:11.860 the headlines can look

00:17:12.980 depending on

00:17:13.640 where you get your news

00:17:14.980 we use Ground News

00:17:16.940 to help us step outside

00:17:18.480 the echo chamber

00:17:19.360 it shows you

00:17:20.340 how the same story

00:17:21.240 is framed differently

00:17:22.600 across the political spectrum

00:17:24.220 so you can compare headlines

00:17:26.000 and decide for yourself

00:17:27.240 take the story

00:17:28.180 about a massive immigration raid

00:17:29.980 at a Hyundai plant

00:17:31.400 in Georgia, USA

00:17:32.440 follow along

00:17:33.640 at

00:17:34.180 ground.news

00:17:35.860 slash trigonometry

00:17:37.200 using Ground News

00:17:38.800 straight away

00:17:39.800 we can quickly see

00:17:40.820 that the story

00:17:41.440 is being covered

00:17:42.240 by outlets

00:17:43.000 across the board

00:17:44.080 however

00:17:44.740 scrolling down the page

00:17:46.300 Ground News

00:17:47.260 allows me to easily

00:17:48.620 compare the headlines

00:17:49.620 we can see CNN

00:17:50.680 which is firmly

00:17:51.940 on the left

00:17:52.740 highlighted that nearly

00:17:54.140 500 workers

00:17:55.520 were taken

00:17:56.080 while Fox News

00:17:57.300 on the right

00:17:58.340 framed the raid

00:17:59.320 as bold action

00:18:00.960 Ground News

00:18:01.920 shows us that broadly

00:18:03.140 left-leaning outlets

00:18:04.680 focused on

00:18:05.460 immigrants and workers

00:18:06.700 center-leaning outlets

00:18:08.580 simply reported

00:18:09.860 the number detained

00:18:10.780 and right-leaning outlets

00:18:12.700 emphasized illegal workers

00:18:14.920 Ground News compiles

00:18:16.320 these divergent perspectives

00:18:17.660 into one place

00:18:18.600 another feature we use

00:18:19.920 heavily at Trigonometry

00:18:20.860 is their blind spot feed

00:18:22.520 which shows you

00:18:23.480 where coverage is lopsided

00:18:25.040 lets you compare headlines

00:18:26.680 across the political spectrum

00:18:28.180 and helps you identify

00:18:29.740 what's being emphasized

00:18:30.980 or ignored

00:18:31.940 if you care about

00:18:32.800 getting to the truth

00:18:33.640 by seeing things

00:18:34.440 from all angles

00:18:35.360 Ground News

00:18:36.280 is essential

00:18:36.960 go to

00:18:37.920 ground.news

00:18:39.180 slash trigonometry

00:18:40.040 and get 40%

00:18:41.740 off their unlimited

00:18:42.760 vantage plan

00:18:43.720 that's the plan we use

00:18:45.000 that link again

00:18:46.060 is ground.news

00:18:47.420 slash trigonometry

00:18:48.680 identity

00:18:50.340 we can get into it

00:18:51.720 right of course

00:18:52.160 it's fabricating

00:18:52.660 we are all

00:18:53.440 we all choose

00:18:54.140 they are choosing

00:18:55.060 their identities

00:18:55.580 and he's plucking

00:18:56.720 things out

00:18:57.280 he's emphasizing

00:18:58.100 their Christianity

00:19:00.000 he's emphasizing

00:19:01.660 their common

00:19:02.760 linguistic

00:19:04.260 and

00:19:04.800 and

00:19:05.580 you know

00:19:06.640 their common linguistic

00:19:07.880 their common cultural

00:19:08.960 unity

00:19:10.200 he's saying actually

00:19:11.140 there is

00:19:12.320 why should

00:19:13.340 there shouldn't be

00:19:13.920 a Mercian

00:19:14.480 and a

00:19:15.600 Wessex person

00:19:17.400 we can create

00:19:19.340 something bigger

00:19:19.960 and it's done

00:19:20.880 as so often

00:19:21.500 with identity

00:19:22.100 as you see

00:19:23.680 in Germany

00:19:24.420 in the 19th century

00:19:25.320 fighting Napoleon

00:19:26.360 you know

00:19:26.740 this explosion

00:19:27.960 of

00:19:29.040 German nationalism

00:19:30.900 that comes as a result

00:19:31.960 of these marauding

00:19:32.840 French armies

00:19:33.640 that crisscross

00:19:34.960 their soul

00:19:35.360 you see

00:19:36.820 you see it

00:19:38.820 in America

00:19:39.440 of course as well

00:19:40.360 fighting the British

00:19:41.300 so you see

00:19:42.180 that in times

00:19:42.880 of kind of

00:19:43.280 struggle

00:19:44.060 in times of existential

00:19:44.920 threat

00:19:46.860 and opportunity

00:19:48.400 you see

00:19:49.620 that

00:19:49.860 identity

00:19:51.120 taking shape

00:19:52.060 and being forged

00:19:52.820 and he's very careful

00:19:53.820 to constantly go

00:19:54.380 I'm not the king

00:19:55.740 which is why

00:19:56.480 after that

00:19:56.940 you don't have

00:19:57.400 we

00:19:58.340 people talk about

00:19:59.280 the Roman Empire

00:19:59.760 we could talk about

00:20:00.400 the

00:20:00.560 we're all

00:20:01.200 the British Empire

00:20:01.920 was actually

00:20:02.240 the Winchester Empire

00:20:03.460 right

00:20:03.720 I mean it's actually

00:20:04.240 the Wessex Empire

00:20:05.060 Wessex conquers

00:20:05.900 roughly speaking

00:20:06.980 the west of England

00:20:08.060 then England

00:20:09.080 then conquers Wales

00:20:10.060 and then we'll go on

00:20:10.720 to as we know

00:20:11.120 Ireland and elsewhere

00:20:11.760 so and yet

00:20:12.640 it's cleverly branded

00:20:14.400 as something

00:20:14.860 that everyone

00:20:15.400 can feel part of

00:20:17.380 as great leaders

00:20:19.360 have done

00:20:20.020 throughout history

00:20:20.680 you then get

00:20:21.660 a run

00:20:22.060 now the key thing

00:20:22.700 and you see this

00:20:24.380 with the Ottomans

00:20:25.000 you see it

00:20:25.400 with the French

00:20:26.020 you see it

00:20:27.200 with the Prussians

00:20:27.840 you get lucky

00:20:29.080 you have a run

00:20:30.120 of good leaders

00:20:30.740 so Alfred's son

00:20:32.940 Edward

00:20:33.380 gets the job done

00:20:35.060 he sort of

00:20:35.460 recaptures London

00:20:36.220 and he's staying here

00:20:36.860 and sort of

00:20:37.200 incorporates that

00:20:37.980 into England

00:20:38.420 and then you get

00:20:39.880 Athelstan

00:20:40.340 who is

00:20:41.700 one of the greatest

00:20:42.420 warrior kings

00:20:42.880 in English history

00:20:43.480 and he conquers

00:20:45.160 we effectively

00:20:46.480 he actually conquers

00:20:47.520 all the whole

00:20:49.180 of the island

00:20:49.680 and including

00:20:50.220 much of Scotland

00:20:51.040 conquering in that period

00:20:53.340 means something

00:20:53.700 but different

00:20:54.040 he will march

00:20:54.780 into the north of Scotland

00:20:55.460 and get the king

00:20:56.320 of the Scots

00:20:56.820 or get the

00:20:57.240 you know

00:20:57.480 their forebear

00:21:00.080 to bend

00:21:01.920 the knee

00:21:02.200 to swear allegiance

00:21:03.360 and in the medieval period

00:21:04.520 allegiance means something

00:21:05.300 a bit different

00:21:05.760 to what it does now

00:21:06.260 there isn't a sort of

00:21:06.860 you know

00:21:07.160 these are not strong

00:21:08.340 bureaucratic

00:21:09.140 sort of sovereign states

00:21:11.060 with specific

00:21:11.640 kind of legal codes

00:21:12.200 there's an ambiguity

00:21:13.540 that you're allowed

00:21:14.640 to embrace

00:21:15.220 in that period

00:21:15.760 I can say

00:21:16.600 I'm your liege man

00:21:18.000 and you go fine

00:21:18.580 well then

00:21:18.900 see in five years

00:21:19.980 crack on and do your thing

00:21:20.940 so you can go away

00:21:22.320 with different expectations

00:21:24.200 around the exact nature

00:21:25.500 of your political relationship

00:21:26.520 and who's subservient to

00:21:27.580 Athelstan

00:21:28.960 and then there's a period

00:21:30.000 the tide come

00:21:30.840 ebbs and flows a bit

00:21:31.660 but we

00:21:31.960 those three leaders

00:21:33.460 and indeed

00:21:34.000 Athelstan's

00:21:35.580 those three leaders

00:21:36.500 and indeed

00:21:36.840 Edward's sister

00:21:37.780 Athelflad

00:21:38.340 helps to

00:21:39.620 those four leaders

00:21:41.260 really help to

00:21:42.220 forge England

00:21:42.940 as we know it today

00:21:43.920 so by

00:21:45.060 900

00:21:47.440 by 950

00:21:49.580 England

00:21:50.380 is recognisable

00:21:51.860 today

00:21:52.200 they don't manage

00:21:53.240 to conquer Scotland

00:21:53.920 they don't manage

00:21:54.320 to kind of permanently

00:21:55.040 conquer Scotland

00:21:55.520 they don't manage

00:21:55.920 to permanently

00:21:56.240 conquer Wales

00:21:56.780 which means

00:21:57.740 you have got

00:21:58.300 permanent

00:21:58.740 identity

00:22:00.300 divisions

00:22:01.200 on this island

00:22:02.120 that will go on

00:22:02.960 and provide

00:22:04.320 much cause

00:22:06.000 for friction

00:22:06.580 over the next

00:22:08.160 thousand years

00:22:09.260 so

00:22:09.800 you said

00:22:11.100 the number

00:22:12.240 950

00:22:13.040 and immediately

00:22:14.140 the number

00:22:14.700 that popped

00:22:15.500 in my head

00:22:16.080 afterwards

00:22:16.540 was

00:22:17.040 1066

00:22:18.260 so let's get

00:22:19.600 into it

00:22:19.960 1066

00:22:20.580 what happened

00:22:21.400 well I should

00:22:22.060 quickly say

00:22:22.500 that the 11th

00:22:23.120 century was

00:22:23.560 an absolute

00:22:24.120 nightmare

00:22:24.500 for England

00:22:25.440 because it is

00:22:25.960 weirdly conquered

00:22:27.040 by the Vikings

00:22:27.900 by the Danes

00:22:28.740 in the early

00:22:29.780 11th century

00:22:30.260 but it's interesting

00:22:31.020 that by that stage

00:22:32.020 Englishness

00:22:32.740 is sufficiently

00:22:33.520 rooted

00:22:33.980 that it

00:22:35.160 endures

00:22:36.060 a foreign

00:22:36.620 occupation

00:22:37.120 and it's

00:22:37.500 an occupation

00:22:37.960 we now think

00:22:38.600 that is a little

00:22:39.440 bit like we

00:22:39.840 talked before

00:22:40.340 it's Swain

00:22:42.220 Forkbeard

00:22:42.760 and his son

00:22:43.320 Canute

00:22:43.600 come in

00:22:44.020 they bring

00:22:44.600 their nobles

00:22:45.280 they reach

00:22:46.440 an accommodation

00:22:47.040 with English

00:22:47.660 aristocracy

00:22:48.220 they're happy

00:22:48.740 to rule

00:22:49.380 in a way

00:22:49.920 that is

00:22:50.300 acceptable

00:22:50.780 to the

00:22:51.220 English

00:22:51.520 people

00:22:51.920 there is

00:22:52.620 no wholesale

00:22:53.840 no you're

00:22:54.220 all Danish

00:22:54.640 now

00:22:55.020 had Canute's

00:22:56.540 sons been

00:22:56.920 less useless

00:22:58.280 we might all

00:22:59.500 still be part

00:23:00.140 of this

00:23:00.440 rather exciting

00:23:01.160 trans North Sea

00:23:02.400 empire

00:23:02.760 with Norway

00:23:03.340 Denmark

00:23:03.800 and England

00:23:05.760 and bits

00:23:06.980 of Britain

00:23:07.300 that I think

00:23:08.040 would be quite

00:23:08.400 an interesting

00:23:08.760 world to which

00:23:09.420 live

00:23:09.580 but we won't

00:23:10.160 because his

00:23:10.620 sons were

00:23:10.960 absolute

00:23:11.520 muppets

00:23:12.020 and so you

00:23:13.060 get the

00:23:13.660 re-emergence

00:23:14.560 of the old

00:23:15.980 line of

00:23:16.360 Alfred the

00:23:16.800 Great

00:23:17.040 through all

00:23:18.280 sorts of

00:23:18.600 ups and

00:23:18.880 downs

00:23:19.080 you get

00:23:19.580 the re-emergence

00:23:20.120 of that line

00:23:20.380 in the person

00:23:21.180 of Edward

00:23:21.520 the Confessor

00:23:22.100 who people

00:23:22.400 have heard

00:23:22.700 of

00:23:22.860 so he

00:23:23.400 is

00:23:23.600 an English

00:23:24.440 king

00:23:24.680 of the

00:23:25.060 line

00:23:25.260 of Wessex

00:23:25.820 there has

00:23:26.640 been a

00:23:26.880 recent

00:23:27.140 Danish

00:23:27.420 occupation

00:23:27.820 so there's

00:23:28.420 quite an

00:23:28.860 interesting

00:23:29.180 Danish

00:23:29.840 flavour

00:23:30.760 to politics

00:23:31.520 and identity

00:23:32.020 at the

00:23:32.260 moment

00:23:32.500 you've got

00:23:33.240 an aristocratic

00:23:34.320 family

00:23:34.640 the toughest

00:23:35.620 biggest

00:23:36.040 family

00:23:36.400 in the

00:23:36.620 land

00:23:36.920 called

00:23:37.300 the

00:23:37.480 Godwin

00:23:37.860 family

00:23:38.380 Earl

00:23:38.980 Godwin

00:23:39.360 Danish

00:23:40.040 wife

00:23:40.500 lots

00:23:41.120 and lots

00:23:41.420 of

00:23:41.560 annoyingly

00:23:42.040 strong

00:23:42.360 and muscle

00:23:43.340 bound

00:23:43.640 and fecund

00:23:44.180 children

00:23:44.700 they marry

00:23:46.220 their daughter

00:23:46.720 to Edward

00:23:47.120 the Confessor

00:23:47.800 and he

00:23:48.460 refuses to

00:23:49.240 have

00:23:49.480 we don't

00:23:49.980 know

00:23:50.300 maybe he

00:23:50.760 wasn't

00:23:50.940 into

00:23:51.220 babies

00:23:51.540 maybe

00:23:51.840 they

00:23:52.000 couldn't

00:23:52.220 have

00:23:52.360 babies

00:23:52.680 maybe

00:23:53.480 he refused

00:23:54.360 to try

00:23:54.940 and have

00:23:55.200 babies

00:23:55.520 he does

00:23:56.260 not

00:23:56.420 produce

00:23:56.740 any

00:23:56.980 heirs

00:23:57.340 and the

00:23:58.020 one

00:23:58.220 thing

00:23:58.700 that

00:23:59.580 medieval

00:24:00.000 history

00:24:00.600 nature

00:24:01.940 abhors

00:24:04.340 the lack

00:24:05.220 of an

00:24:05.420 heir

00:24:05.600 lack

00:24:06.160 of a

00:24:06.360 male

00:24:06.500 heir

00:24:06.740 so

00:24:07.180 Edward

00:24:07.460 the

00:24:07.620 Confessor

00:24:08.200 dies

00:24:09.180 in 1066

00:24:10.160 without a

00:24:11.540 male

00:24:11.740 heir

00:24:11.960 leaving

00:24:12.700 behind him

00:24:13.380 a

00:24:14.220 strong

00:24:15.180 rich

00:24:15.760 unified

00:24:16.420 kingdom

00:24:16.860 England

00:24:17.360 which

00:24:18.080 because of

00:24:18.660 this process

00:24:19.260 of fighting

00:24:19.840 the Vikings

00:24:20.360 over centuries

00:24:21.460 has

00:24:22.260 had to

00:24:23.180 get pretty

00:24:24.820 good

00:24:25.360 at centralising

00:24:26.900 at organising

00:24:27.820 at collecting

00:24:28.600 taxation

00:24:29.240 at storing

00:24:30.140 that

00:24:30.360 century

00:24:30.580 it's

00:24:31.160 a

00:24:31.580 money

00:24:32.720 hose

00:24:33.680 if you're

00:24:34.700 in charge

00:24:35.260 of England

00:24:35.560 it's

00:24:35.780 pretty

00:24:36.000 good

00:24:36.240 because

00:24:36.880 as ever

00:24:38.140 war

00:24:39.080 is

00:24:40.800 it puts

00:24:42.800 steel

00:24:43.280 into

00:24:43.560 a state

00:24:44.080 the great

00:24:44.780 wars

00:24:45.120 of the

00:24:45.440 18th

00:24:47.780 century

00:24:48.060 the modern

00:24:48.840 British

00:24:49.080 state

00:24:49.280 is forged

00:24:50.040 hard

00:24:50.800 in these

00:24:51.380 wars

00:24:51.640 against

00:24:51.940 France

00:24:52.360 that's

00:24:52.740 springboard

00:24:53.520 for this

00:24:53.780 great

00:24:54.020 giant

00:24:54.340 push

00:24:55.460 for

00:24:55.600 empire

00:24:55.840 because

00:24:56.540 you're

00:24:57.000 in

00:24:57.140 training

00:24:57.440 you've

00:24:58.040 got

00:24:58.160 a

00:24:58.920 clear

00:24:59.140 and

00:24:59.300 present

00:24:59.520 danger

00:24:59.860 every

00:25:00.120 day

00:25:00.240 so

00:25:00.380 that

00:25:00.580 English

00:25:00.920 state

00:25:01.400 emerges

00:25:02.260 is

00:25:03.580 very

00:25:03.980 effective

00:25:04.440 at

00:25:05.040 controlling

00:25:05.720 the lives

00:25:06.100 of the

00:25:06.260 people

00:25:06.440 that live

00:25:06.740 there

00:25:06.940 it's

00:25:07.120 very

00:25:07.320 effective

00:25:07.720 at

00:25:08.380 raising

00:25:08.780 troops

00:25:09.100 very

00:25:09.320 effective

00:25:09.600 at

00:25:09.780 raising

00:25:10.020 money

00:25:10.300 it's

00:25:10.620 a

00:25:11.720 valuable

00:25:13.080 wealthy

00:25:14.100 kingdom

00:25:14.400 and so

00:25:14.800 everyone's

00:25:15.040 got their

00:25:15.300 eyes

00:25:15.500 on it

00:25:15.720 the

00:25:16.240 Vikings

00:25:16.600 are

00:25:16.780 back

00:25:17.060 Harold

00:25:17.660 Hardrada

00:25:18.220 the

00:25:18.460 super

00:25:19.200 human

00:25:19.720 legend

00:25:20.960 of early

00:25:21.480 medieval

00:25:21.720 history

00:25:22.140 giant

00:25:23.220 tall

00:25:23.800 king

00:25:24.500 of

00:25:24.780 Norway

00:25:25.220 who's

00:25:25.920 fought

00:25:26.200 his

00:25:26.540 down

00:25:27.120 the

00:25:27.360 rivers

00:25:27.580 of

00:25:27.760 Russia

00:25:28.120 commanded

00:25:29.000 the

00:25:29.300 Byzantine

00:25:30.380 Emperor's

00:25:31.040 Imperial

00:25:31.560 Guard

00:25:31.940 in

00:25:32.120 Constantinople

00:25:32.900 fought

00:25:33.520 as far

00:25:34.040 as

00:25:34.300 Mesopotamia

00:25:35.560 married

00:25:36.080 a Ukrainian

00:25:36.600 princess

00:25:37.040 on the

00:25:37.320 way

00:25:37.440 home

00:25:37.680 I mean

00:25:37.940 this

00:25:38.100 guy

00:25:38.360 is

00:25:38.540 an

00:25:38.640 absolute

00:25:38.880 legend

00:25:39.240 he

00:25:39.840 unfortunately

00:25:40.400 is interested

00:25:41.000 in the

00:25:41.220 crown

00:25:41.360 of

00:25:41.500 England

00:25:41.700 he

00:25:42.320 invades

00:25:42.700 in

00:25:42.820 1066

00:25:43.400 and

00:25:44.560 this

00:25:44.880 unlike

00:25:45.400 the other

00:25:45.720 claim

00:25:45.940 you're

00:25:46.160 getting

00:25:46.380 to

00:25:46.700 he

00:25:47.240 has

00:25:47.500 no

00:25:47.740 right

00:25:48.000 to

00:25:48.180 this

00:25:48.360 claim

00:25:48.600 no

00:25:48.880 connection

00:25:49.400 other

00:25:50.120 than

00:25:50.320 that

00:25:50.440 he

00:25:50.560 claims

00:25:50.920 the

00:25:51.060 mantle

00:25:51.320 of

00:25:51.480 Canute

00:25:51.740 he

00:25:56.540 Viking

00:25:57.120 Empire

00:25:57.460 it's a

00:25:57.760 Norse

00:25:58.080 Empire

00:25:58.460 across

00:25:58.760 the

00:25:58.880 sea

00:25:59.120 so

00:25:59.340 it's

00:25:59.600 the

00:25:59.880 way

00:26:00.020 things

00:26:00.280 ought

00:26:00.420 to

00:26:00.520 be

00:26:00.760 Edward

00:26:01.440 the

00:26:01.560 Confessor

00:26:01.880 dies

00:26:01.980 I should

00:26:02.240 say

00:26:02.420 of course

00:26:02.720 and we

00:26:03.400 see

00:26:03.740 immediately

00:26:04.860 possibly

00:26:05.520 the same

00:26:06.040 day

00:26:06.280 that

00:26:06.420 Edward

00:26:06.560 the

00:26:06.680 Confessor

00:26:06.980 dies

00:26:07.400 Harold

00:26:08.240 Godwinson

00:26:08.860 crowns

00:26:09.380 himself

00:26:09.800 King

00:26:10.200 of

00:26:10.480 England

00:26:10.800 possibly

00:26:11.640 on the

00:26:11.940 same

00:26:12.240 day

00:26:12.560 that

00:26:12.740 Edward

00:26:12.900 is

00:26:13.020 put

00:26:13.160 to

00:26:13.300 rest

00:26:13.520 in

00:26:13.920 Westminster

00:26:14.220 we

00:26:14.620 think

00:26:14.760 it

00:26:14.860 happened

00:26:15.080 Harold

00:26:16.740 is

00:26:16.900 King

00:26:17.080 of

00:26:17.200 England

00:26:17.480 Harold

00:26:18.520 Hald

00:26:18.540 Hardrada

00:26:19.080 in

00:26:19.420 Norway

00:26:19.680 is

00:26:26.540 he's

00:26:26.840 across

00:26:27.240 the

00:26:27.800 sea

00:26:28.040 in

00:26:28.360 Normandy

00:26:28.720 and so

00:26:29.440 you've

00:26:29.580 got

00:26:29.700 Harold

00:26:30.000 of

00:26:30.160 England

00:26:30.440 he's

00:26:31.360 dealt

00:26:31.520 with

00:26:31.680 internal

00:26:31.980 opposition

00:26:32.400 he's

00:26:33.280 now

00:26:33.480 got

00:26:33.720 these

00:26:33.960 two

00:26:34.360 annoyingly

00:26:36.000 talented

00:26:36.600 warlords

00:26:37.960 about to

00:26:38.740 launch

00:26:38.920 invasions

00:26:39.320 against

00:26:39.600 him

00:26:39.780 in

00:26:40.240 the

00:26:40.360 first

00:26:40.860 one

00:26:41.000 to

00:26:41.100 be

00:26:41.200 in

00:26:41.320 the

00:26:41.520 first

00:26:41.780 we'll

00:26:42.080 talk

00:26:42.220 about

00:26:42.320 the

00:26:42.400 English

00:26:42.540 Channel

00:26:42.740 perhaps

00:26:42.940 another

00:26:43.080 time

00:26:43.320 but

00:26:43.440 William

00:26:43.740 is

00:26:43.900 held

00:26:44.500 up

00:26:44.660 in

00:26:44.820 port

00:26:45.020 we

00:26:45.240 think

00:26:45.560 by

00:26:46.000 adverse

00:26:46.440 winds

00:26:46.860 very

00:26:47.360 difficult

00:26:47.640 to sail

00:26:47.920 a

00:26:48.060 fleet

00:26:48.260 a

00:26:48.500 huge

00:26:48.820 fleet

00:26:49.120 of

00:26:49.260 ships

00:26:51.140 across

00:26:51.420 the

00:26:51.580 Channel

00:26:51.800 with

00:26:52.020 horses

00:26:52.580 on

00:26:52.840 them

00:26:52.980 lots

00:26:53.200 of

00:26:53.280 supplies

00:26:53.660 you

00:26:54.220 want

00:26:54.320 to

00:26:54.360 be

00:26:54.480 pretty

00:26:54.660 sure

00:26:54.940 you

00:26:55.060 can

00:26:55.140 have

00:26:55.220 a

00:26:55.340 gentle

00:26:55.600 southerly

00:26:56.000 wind

00:26:56.160 which

00:26:56.280 doesn't

00:26:56.480 happen

00:26:56.680 very often

00:26:57.060 in the

00:26:57.260 Channel

00:26:57.460 because

00:26:57.840 you

00:26:58.020 often

00:26:58.240 get

00:26:58.440 this

00:26:58.660 southwesterly

00:26:59.400 wind

00:26:59.600 that

00:26:59.740 blasts

00:27:00.120 up

00:27:00.200 the

00:27:00.320 Channel

00:27:00.540 we'll

00:27:01.000 be

00:27:01.140 familiar

00:27:01.460 with

00:27:01.760 as well

00:27:02.240 the

00:27:02.380 trees

00:27:02.660 are

00:27:02.800 like

00:27:02.920 this

00:27:03.180 in

00:27:03.640 England

00:27:04.280 and

00:27:05.280 in

00:27:05.400 the

00:27:05.540 end

00:27:05.760 the

00:27:05.960 first

00:27:06.200 person

00:27:06.540 to

00:27:06.680 land

00:27:07.000 Harold

00:27:08.020 sits

00:27:08.400 there

00:27:08.560 with

00:27:08.660 a

00:27:08.820 massive

00:27:09.220 army

00:27:09.640 he

00:27:09.920 demonstrates

00:27:11.280 the

00:27:11.640 power

00:27:11.820 of

00:27:11.940 this

00:27:12.060 kingdom

00:27:12.260 he

00:27:12.620 calls

00:27:13.040 together

00:27:13.240 a

00:27:13.460 huge

00:27:13.920 army

00:27:14.220 sits

00:27:14.880 there

00:27:15.080 around

00:27:15.360 Southampton

00:27:16.020 waiting

00:27:17.400 for

00:27:17.620 William

00:27:17.820 William

00:27:18.200 doesn't

00:27:18.400 arrive

00:27:18.540 sorry

00:27:19.820 to keep

00:27:20.260 jumping

00:27:20.540 in

00:27:20.720 there's

00:27:21.540 all

00:27:21.700 these

00:27:21.840 little

00:27:22.060 bits

00:27:22.320 of

00:27:22.460 curiosity

00:27:22.980 but

00:27:24.260 it's

00:27:26.580 so

00:27:26.720 interesting

00:27:27.080 how does

00:27:28.280 he know

00:27:28.640 these

00:27:28.840 invasions

00:27:29.240 are

00:27:29.380 coming

00:27:29.620 have

00:27:29.940 these

00:27:30.140 people

00:27:30.400 said

00:27:30.740 I

00:27:31.100 am

00:27:31.300 the

00:27:31.480 proud

00:27:31.920 king

00:27:32.220 of

00:27:32.360 England

00:27:32.580 I'm

00:27:32.920 coming

00:27:33.180 to

00:27:33.360 take

00:27:33.600 what's

00:27:33.860 rightful

00:27:34.160 in

00:27:34.280 mind

00:27:34.480 I

00:27:34.680 think

00:27:34.860 actually

00:27:35.140 he

00:27:35.280 wasn't

00:27:35.600 certain

00:27:35.940 about

00:27:36.120 Harold

00:27:36.300 Hardrada

00:27:36.660 he

00:27:37.220 definitely

00:27:38.620 knows

00:27:38.900 about

00:27:39.080 William

00:27:39.300 because

00:27:39.500 William

00:27:39.740 is

00:27:39.860 going

00:27:40.020 around

00:27:40.260 asking

00:27:40.580 for

00:27:40.780 mercy

00:27:41.040 he's

00:27:41.200 asking

00:27:41.460 people

00:27:41.620 to

00:27:41.760 join

00:27:41.980 in

00:27:42.260 he

00:27:42.740 asked

00:27:43.000 the

00:27:43.200 Pope

00:27:43.480 the

00:27:44.120 Pope

00:27:44.340 sent

00:27:44.600 him

00:27:44.760 a

00:27:44.920 sacred

00:27:45.320 banner

00:27:45.640 I

00:27:45.820 believe

00:27:46.100 money

00:27:46.320 changed

00:27:46.640 hands

00:27:46.940 saying

00:27:47.420 because

00:27:47.680 Earl

00:27:49.340 Harold

00:27:49.580 is

00:27:49.680 an

00:27:49.820 oath

00:27:50.060 breaker

00:27:50.440 he

00:27:51.000 seized

00:27:51.320 the

00:27:51.440 throne

00:27:51.600 even

00:27:51.740 though

00:27:51.860 he

00:27:51.940 promised

00:27:52.180 not

00:27:52.360 to

00:27:52.500 so

00:27:53.100 claimed

00:27:53.540 William

00:27:53.800 he'd

00:27:54.400 broken

00:27:54.660 a

00:27:54.860 holy

00:27:55.120 oath

00:27:55.460 therefore

00:27:56.080 this

00:27:56.360 was

00:27:56.480 a

00:27:56.860 crusade

00:27:57.240 it

00:27:57.340 was

00:27:57.440 if

00:27:58.460 you

00:27:58.620 go

00:27:58.920 your

00:27:59.340 sins

00:27:59.700 will

00:27:59.880 be

00:28:00.040 remitted

00:28:00.500 so

00:28:01.620 young

00:28:02.500 men

00:28:02.780 what a

00:28:03.500 sweet

00:28:03.920 deal

00:28:04.220 you

00:28:04.600 go

00:28:04.900 you get

00:28:05.540 to

00:28:05.640 take

00:28:05.780 part

00:28:05.960 in

00:28:06.040 great

00:28:06.200 military

00:28:06.480 adventure

00:28:06.880 you're

00:28:07.360 going

00:28:07.460 to

00:28:07.540 enjoy

00:28:07.760 enormous

00:28:08.120 riches

00:28:08.500 if

00:28:08.760 it

00:28:09.040 succeeds

00:28:09.480 because

00:28:09.740 you'll

00:28:09.860 be

00:28:09.960 rewarded

00:28:10.400 in

00:28:10.560 this

00:28:10.680 fabulously

00:28:11.020 wealthy

00:28:11.280 land

00:28:11.520 and

00:28:11.980 if

00:28:12.120 you

00:28:12.220 die

00:28:12.700 you're

00:28:13.800 doing

00:28:14.300 less

00:28:14.500 time

00:28:14.720 purgatory

00:28:15.120 you're

00:28:15.640 getting

00:28:16.340 your

00:28:16.520 fast

00:28:16.780 track

00:28:16.980 to

00:28:17.140 heaven

00:28:17.320 so

00:28:17.520 this

00:28:17.680 is

00:28:17.800 wonderful

00:28:18.140 so

00:28:19.020 he

00:28:19.540 knows

00:28:19.820 that's

00:28:20.060 happening

00:28:20.360 William

00:28:21.340 is

00:28:21.600 building

00:28:21.960 a

00:28:22.100 big

00:28:22.240 army

00:28:22.400 that's

00:28:22.640 why

00:28:22.780 Harold's

00:28:23.100 in

00:28:23.180 the

00:28:23.320 south

00:28:23.540 Harold

00:28:24.200 though

00:28:24.380 in

00:28:24.540 September

00:28:24.920 he's

00:28:25.100 got to

00:28:25.300 send

00:28:25.460 that

00:28:25.600 army

00:28:25.820 home

00:28:26.060 they've

00:28:26.620 got to

00:28:26.760 go

00:28:26.860 and do

00:28:27.020 the

00:28:27.140 harvest

00:28:27.500 he thinks

00:28:28.080 he's

00:28:28.260 survived

00:28:28.560 for another

00:28:28.880 year

00:28:29.060 September

00:28:29.420 lots of

00:28:29.820 gales

00:28:30.040 in the

00:28:30.280 channel

00:28:30.480 he's

00:28:31.280 made it

00:28:31.620 through

00:28:31.800 a

00:28:32.100 campaigning

00:28:32.480 season

00:28:32.820 then he

00:28:33.460 gets

00:28:33.640 the

00:28:33.820 news

00:28:34.080 England

00:28:34.500 has

00:28:34.780 been

00:28:34.920 invaded

00:28:35.240 not

00:28:35.840 in

00:28:36.000 the

00:28:36.120 south

00:28:36.400 in

00:28:37.260 the

00:28:37.380 north

00:28:37.660 Harold

00:28:38.160 Hardrada

00:28:38.640 the

00:28:39.040 land

00:28:39.480 waster

00:28:39.960 has

00:28:40.880 arrived

00:28:41.520 in

00:28:41.820 Yorkshire

00:28:42.280 where

00:28:43.000 we

00:28:43.200 lots

00:28:43.720 of

00:28:44.000 local

00:28:44.300 people

00:28:44.500 because

00:28:44.740 of

00:28:44.920 its

00:28:45.060 history

00:28:45.360 of

00:28:45.560 Danish

00:28:46.020 and

00:28:46.180 Viking

00:28:46.400 settlement

00:28:46.780 there

00:28:46.960 would

00:28:47.060 have

00:28:47.100 been

00:28:47.200 lots

00:28:47.380 of

00:28:47.480 local

00:28:47.680 people

00:28:47.920 that

00:28:48.040 quite

00:28:48.200 welcomed

00:28:48.660 that

00:28:48.940 he'd

00:28:49.580 have

00:28:49.620 been

00:28:49.720 shown

00:28:49.960 where

00:28:50.140 to

00:28:50.280 leave

00:28:50.420 the

00:28:50.580 ships

00:28:50.880 and

00:28:51.060 good

00:28:52.340 useful

00:28:53.620 collaborators

00:28:54.300 locally

00:28:54.760 and

00:28:55.580 Harold

00:28:55.800 does

00:28:56.000 one of

00:28:56.200 the

00:28:56.280 most

00:28:56.440 remarkable

00:28:56.900 things

00:28:57.180 we'd

00:28:57.360 all

00:28:57.480 remember

00:28:57.780 Harold

00:28:58.000 to

00:28:58.120 this

00:28:58.240 day

00:28:58.480 as

00:28:58.640 a

00:28:58.740 great

00:28:58.960 military

00:28:59.260 commander

00:28:59.600 one

00:28:59.800 of

00:28:59.880 the

00:28:59.940 great

00:29:00.140 strokes

00:29:00.580 of

00:29:00.740 history

00:29:00.980 he

00:29:01.820 does

00:29:02.020 a

00:29:02.180 lightning

00:29:02.640 march

00:29:02.980 there's

00:29:03.120 great

00:29:03.340 quote

00:29:03.640 by

00:29:03.880 Nathan

00:29:04.440 Bedford

00:29:04.720 Forrest

00:29:05.040 who was

00:29:05.260 a

00:29:05.580 cavalry

00:29:05.860 commander

00:29:06.220 in the

00:29:06.440 American

00:29:06.660 Civil War

00:29:07.320 he says

00:29:08.200 military

00:29:08.960 tactics

00:29:09.860 are pretty

00:29:10.660 straightforward

00:29:11.100 all you've

00:29:12.360 got to do

00:29:12.620 is get there

00:29:13.860 first with

00:29:14.340 the most

00:29:14.700 I love

00:29:15.600 that

00:29:15.800 it really

00:29:16.340 does explain

00:29:16.880 nearly all

00:29:17.500 militaries

00:29:17.920 if you get

00:29:18.660 there first

00:29:19.320 with the

00:29:19.740 most

00:29:20.100 the chances

00:29:20.700 are you're

00:29:21.020 going to be

00:29:21.260 in the best

00:29:21.640 position to

00:29:22.300 determine

00:29:22.800 the course

00:29:23.680 of events

00:29:24.040 on the

00:29:24.260 ground

00:29:24.500 and so

00:29:25.300 Harold

00:29:25.600 lightning

00:29:26.400 marches

00:29:26.960 to York

00:29:27.460 extraordinary

00:29:28.380 up the

00:29:28.840 old Roman

00:29:29.360 road to

00:29:29.720 York

00:29:29.900 through the

00:29:30.940 city of

00:29:31.280 York

00:29:31.400 without

00:29:31.620 stopping

00:29:32.060 and he

00:29:32.720 hears that

00:29:33.200 the Viking

00:29:33.600 army

00:29:33.920 is just

00:29:35.000 to the

00:29:35.200 eastern

00:29:35.380 of York

00:29:35.540 at a

00:29:35.660 place

00:29:35.780 called

00:29:35.940 Stamford

00:29:36.340 Bridge

00:29:36.620 and he

00:29:38.120 surprises

00:29:38.680 them

00:29:38.940 and the

00:29:39.280 Viking

00:29:39.520 army

00:29:39.800 are doing

00:29:40.300 some

00:29:40.480 cattle

00:29:40.740 rustling

00:29:41.080 it's a

00:29:41.300 hot

00:29:41.480 summer's

00:29:41.860 day

00:29:42.120 they've

00:29:42.560 left

00:29:42.720 their

00:29:42.880 armour

00:29:43.080 on the

00:29:43.360 ships

00:29:43.520 they're

00:29:43.720 just

00:29:43.860 chilling

00:29:44.200 on the

00:29:44.440 banks

00:29:44.660 of

00:29:44.800 the river

00:29:44.960 bank

00:29:45.320 stealing

00:29:46.080 some

00:29:46.320 things

00:29:46.660 having

00:29:46.980 a good

00:29:47.180 time

00:29:47.500 and they

00:29:48.440 suddenly

00:29:48.760 see

00:29:48.960 this

00:29:49.100 massive

00:29:49.520 dust

00:29:49.840 cloud

00:29:50.060 and they

00:29:50.300 see

00:29:50.500 this

00:29:50.860 armour

00:29:51.240 coming

00:29:51.580 in

00:29:51.720 the

00:29:51.860 sun

00:29:52.080 is

00:29:52.220 glinting

00:29:52.620 off

00:29:52.780 it

00:29:52.880 like

00:29:53.040 the

00:29:53.180 sun

00:29:53.380 off

00:29:53.500 broken

00:29:53.820 ice

00:29:54.040 we hear

00:29:54.260 from

00:29:54.400 the

00:29:54.540 saga

00:29:54.800 and

00:29:55.780 Harold

00:29:56.600 Hardrada

00:29:56.960 just

00:29:57.200 goes

00:29:57.580 shit

00:29:59.280 shit

00:30:01.600 it's the

00:30:02.880 English

00:30:03.060 royal

00:30:03.280 army

00:30:03.560 I'm

00:30:03.840 here

00:30:04.040 half

00:30:04.440 my

00:30:04.600 army

00:30:04.740 are

00:30:04.840 back

00:30:04.940 my

00:30:05.100 boats

00:30:05.360 half

00:30:05.600 the

00:30:05.720 army

00:30:05.860 here

00:30:06.040 we've

00:30:06.160 got no

00:30:06.400 weapons

00:30:06.780 and there

00:30:07.480 is then

00:30:07.780 this

00:30:07.960 extraordinary

00:30:08.400 battle

00:30:08.880 they surge

00:30:11.760 across the

00:30:12.180 river

00:30:12.380 at Stamford

00:30:13.000 Bridge

00:30:13.360 and they

00:30:13.680 destroy

00:30:14.700 this Viking

00:30:15.180 army

00:30:16.460 they come

00:30:16.980 across

00:30:17.280 in something

00:30:17.580 like 200

00:30:17.940 ships

00:30:18.220 they need

00:30:18.820 something

00:30:18.980 like 20

00:30:19.520 ships

00:30:19.860 to return

00:30:20.300 home

00:30:20.580 Harold

00:30:21.400 Hardrada

00:30:21.820 is killed

00:30:22.240 with an

00:30:22.540 arrow to

00:30:22.940 the throat

00:30:23.380 after he

00:30:23.780 went on

00:30:23.980 a berserk

00:30:24.820 two-handed

00:30:25.480 sword

00:30:26.000 charge

00:30:26.800 he died

00:30:27.740 in a way

00:30:28.920 that did

00:30:29.260 him great

00:30:29.580 credit

00:30:29.880 and then

00:30:31.920 Harold

00:30:32.800 is celebrating

00:30:33.480 one of the

00:30:34.480 great victories

00:30:35.160 over the

00:30:35.920 Norse

00:30:36.220 over the

00:30:36.600 Vikings

00:30:36.940 in history

00:30:37.920 and he

00:30:38.780 gets a

00:30:39.060 message

00:30:39.340 saying

00:30:40.720 I've got

00:30:40.880 some terrible

00:30:41.320 news for you

00:30:41.900 England's been

00:30:42.760 invaded again

00:30:43.320 Duke William

00:30:43.780 has landed

00:30:44.100 in the south

00:30:44.540 so he

00:30:45.000 goes all

00:30:45.360 the way

00:30:45.520 to the south

00:30:45.760 he tries

00:30:46.060 to pull

00:30:46.280 off the

00:30:46.480 same

00:30:46.640 trick

00:30:46.820 twice

00:30:47.140 he doesn't

00:30:47.620 stop

00:30:47.840 in London

00:30:48.160 his brothers

00:30:48.600 beg him

00:30:49.060 to stop

00:30:49.300 in London

00:30:49.580 to wait

00:30:50.280 for more

00:30:50.600 forces to

00:30:51.100 come in

00:30:51.380 he thinks

00:30:51.840 no one

00:30:52.140 are going to

00:30:52.260 surprise him

00:30:52.840 so his

00:30:53.480 forces are

00:30:54.280 exhausted

00:30:54.820 basically

00:30:55.440 well we

00:30:56.200 think he's

00:30:56.820 got a core

00:30:57.440 professional army

00:30:58.220 called the

00:30:58.520 house cars

00:30:59.000 these are

00:30:59.500 full-time

00:30:59.780 professionals

00:31:00.160 he's probably

00:31:00.620 brought with

00:31:01.200 them

00:31:01.460 the mass

00:31:03.840 of his army

00:31:04.620 are probably

00:31:05.140 men called

00:31:05.980 up from

00:31:06.780 various

00:31:07.340 local regions

00:31:08.420 so as he's

00:31:09.460 coming back

00:31:09.980 down with

00:31:10.320 the house cars

00:31:10.720 who would

00:31:11.040 have been

00:31:11.260 exhausted

00:31:11.560 they're the

00:31:15.000 they'd be

00:31:15.320 fatigued

00:31:15.860 but as he's

00:31:17.080 doing so

00:31:17.400 he's sending

00:31:17.720 messages

00:31:18.000 I need

00:31:18.340 the men

00:31:18.580 of Kent

00:31:18.980 Sussex

00:31:19.700 and Hampshire

00:31:20.160 to meet

00:31:20.600 me here

00:31:21.080 so he

00:31:23.360 is there

00:31:24.460 is a fatigue

00:31:25.040 issue

00:31:25.300 it's not

00:31:25.640 quite the

00:31:26.140 case that

00:31:26.420 the whole

00:31:26.740 army had

00:31:27.180 marched

00:31:27.460 all the

00:31:27.700 way

00:31:27.960 however

00:31:28.720 also

00:31:29.260 but the

00:31:29.780 northern

00:31:30.260 levies

00:31:30.680 these northern

00:31:31.320 counties

00:31:31.740 that had

00:31:32.060 he had

00:31:32.300 time

00:31:32.700 he'd have

00:31:32.940 said

00:31:33.020 actually

00:31:33.320 Midlanders

00:31:34.300 northerners

00:31:34.740 come and

00:31:35.060 join me

00:31:35.560 he's trying

00:31:36.260 to take

00:31:36.560 on William

00:31:36.960 with the

00:31:37.520 southern

00:31:38.260 counties

00:31:38.780 and his

00:31:39.220 elite

00:31:39.540 who are

00:31:39.820 battle

00:31:40.300 damaged

00:31:40.580 so it's

00:31:41.320 somewhere

00:31:41.560 in between

00:31:41.900 but it's

00:31:42.180 not ideal

00:31:42.720 he tries

00:31:43.780 to trap

00:31:44.880 William

00:31:45.200 exactly the

00:31:45.720 same

00:31:45.840 doesn't

00:31:46.100 work out

00:31:46.580 they fight

00:31:46.960 the battle

00:31:47.200 of Hastings

00:31:47.500 goes on

00:31:47.920 all day

00:31:48.240 one of the

00:31:48.620 most remarkable

00:31:49.240 some attritional

00:31:50.260 battles in medieval

00:31:50.980 history

00:31:51.320 and William

00:31:52.500 wins

00:31:52.740 he doesn't

00:31:53.080 just win

00:31:53.520 he annihilates

00:31:54.640 the ruling

00:31:55.280 class of

00:31:55.800 Anglo-Saxon

00:31:56.400 England

00:31:56.600 which is

00:31:56.960 important

00:31:57.360 he kills

00:31:58.120 Harold

00:31:58.400 he kills

00:31:58.780 his two

00:31:59.060 brothers

00:31:59.420 on that

00:31:59.880 battlefield

00:32:00.280 he kills

00:32:01.060 a lot

00:32:01.580 of important

00:32:02.120 he decapitates

00:32:03.800 Anglo-Saxon

00:32:04.520 England

00:32:04.780 to a large

00:32:06.340 extent

00:32:06.740 he then is

00:32:07.620 the Anglo-Saxons

00:32:08.700 bend the knee

00:32:09.180 they offer him

00:32:09.680 the crown

00:32:10.080 but then that's

00:32:10.960 not the end

00:32:11.360 of the Norman

00:32:11.640 conquest

00:32:11.940 he spends

00:32:12.340 the next

00:32:12.600 few years

00:32:12.960 discovering

00:32:14.840 the nightmare

00:32:15.440 that is

00:32:15.900 England

00:32:16.280 and there

00:32:18.500 is an

00:32:18.720 uprising

00:32:19.020 in East Anglia

00:32:19.560 there's an

00:32:19.740 uprising

00:32:20.060 in Cornwall

00:32:21.260 around Exeter

00:32:23.000 there's a

00:32:23.620 horrific uprising

00:32:24.620 in the north

00:32:24.920 of England

00:32:25.200 he's forced

00:32:25.580 to commit

00:32:25.840 some genocide

00:32:26.600 and ethnic

00:32:26.980 cleansing

00:32:27.320 in the north

00:32:27.660 of England

00:32:28.040 the Vikings

00:32:29.300 have a little

00:32:29.720 sniff at that

00:32:30.280 point as well

00:32:30.740 he's forced

00:32:31.420 because of

00:32:31.940 this problem

00:32:32.720 that we have

00:32:33.360 of crumbling

00:32:33.980 frontiers

00:32:34.560 this will be

00:32:34.900 a problem

00:32:35.140 for all

00:32:35.500 empire

00:32:35.860 builds

00:32:36.120 over the

00:32:36.440 centuries

00:32:36.720 he's

00:32:37.460 forced

00:32:37.700 if you

00:32:38.300 want to

00:32:38.600 dominate

00:32:38.840 England

00:32:39.160 you discover

00:32:39.640 that you

00:32:40.960 have to push

00:32:41.700 into Scotland

00:32:42.320 you have to

00:32:42.600 push into

00:32:43.140 Wales

00:32:43.440 because your

00:32:44.260 foes will

00:32:44.840 cross the

00:32:45.200 border

00:32:45.420 and as we

00:32:46.160 see in

00:32:46.620 Israel

00:32:47.100 Palestine

00:32:47.460 borders are

00:32:49.860 poorest things

00:32:50.840 and like

00:32:51.400 Vietnam War

00:32:52.240 you end up

00:32:52.820 having to

00:32:53.540 project force

00:32:54.180 beyond the

00:32:54.880 place where

00:32:55.340 you wish to

00:32:55.840 so he

00:32:56.480 marches into

00:32:57.020 Scotland

00:32:57.320 gets the

00:32:57.760 king of

00:32:58.000 Scotland

00:32:58.160 to bend

00:32:58.480 the knee

00:32:58.760 to him

00:32:58.960 which is

00:32:59.260 important

00:32:59.600 later on

00:33:00.060 he marches

00:33:01.000 into parts

00:33:01.460 of Wales

00:33:01.880 and beats

00:33:02.740 the Welsh

00:33:03.120 princes

00:33:03.440 and sort

00:33:03.760 of doesn't

00:33:05.520 own or

00:33:06.080 occupy them

00:33:06.980 but sort

00:33:07.340 of receives

00:33:07.960 promises

00:33:09.140 of submission

00:33:09.820 that they'll

00:33:10.280 then forget

00:33:10.720 the minute

00:33:10.980 he's gone

00:33:11.240 back to

00:33:11.500 me

00:33:11.580 Dan

00:33:11.740 let me

00:33:11.980 ask another

00:33:12.420 stupid

00:33:12.700 question

00:33:13.120 because

00:33:13.680 no stupid

00:33:14.280 questions

00:33:14.700 I know

00:33:15.220 but I'll

00:33:16.240 do my best

00:33:16.700 to ask one

00:33:17.140 anyway

00:33:17.360 I'm curious

00:33:19.160 this will

00:33:20.480 sound very

00:33:20.960 strange

00:33:21.240 but I

00:33:21.520 actually think

00:33:21.860 it's worth

00:33:22.160 asking

00:33:22.540 what is the

00:33:23.900 nature of

00:33:24.580 these rebellions

00:33:25.460 you know

00:33:25.980 a lot of

00:33:26.500 the people

00:33:26.940 you've

00:33:27.600 like you said

00:33:28.260 the ruling

00:33:28.520 class has been

00:33:29.100 killed off

00:33:29.640 yeah

00:33:29.880 mostly

00:33:30.640 right

00:33:31.100 so you're

00:33:31.920 sitting there

00:33:32.520 in Yorkshire

00:33:33.340 wherever it

00:33:33.860 might be

00:33:34.300 why do

00:33:35.260 you want

00:33:35.900 to risk

00:33:36.900 your life

00:33:37.460 the life

00:33:37.820 of your

00:33:38.100 sons

00:33:38.400 the life

00:33:38.720 of your

00:33:39.000 family

00:33:39.420 everyone

00:33:40.320 for what

00:33:42.140 that is a

00:33:43.040 very good

00:33:43.420 question

00:33:43.760 what are you

00:33:43.820 fighting for

00:33:44.240 something that

00:33:44.680 I think

00:33:45.700 all the time

00:33:46.440 because it's

00:33:46.860 very

00:33:47.020 you just

00:33:47.520 go

00:33:47.740 popular

00:33:49.560 uprisings

00:33:50.320 again

00:33:50.680 maybe this is

00:33:51.760 the nature

00:33:52.120 of the

00:33:52.420 historical

00:33:52.780 records

00:33:53.180 you don't

00:33:53.540 you don't

00:33:53.860 learn about

00:33:54.440 the times

00:33:54.860 when William

00:33:55.340 the Conqueror

00:33:55.900 or another

00:33:56.580 medieval king

00:33:57.220 just goes

00:33:57.580 there's a bit

00:33:58.140 of an uprising

00:33:58.540 there

00:33:58.820 send them

00:34:00.400 some money

00:34:00.760 and agree

00:34:01.060 to do what

00:34:01.320 we want

00:34:01.560 it seems

00:34:02.200 to me

00:34:02.400 that a lot

00:34:02.980 of the time

00:34:03.360 the king

00:34:04.500 arrives

00:34:04.840 and just

00:34:05.560 murders

00:34:05.900 everyone

00:34:06.260 if you're

00:34:07.380 a local

00:34:08.020 member

00:34:08.320 of the

00:34:08.540 gentry

00:34:08.940 your family

00:34:09.560 have survived

00:34:10.080 hastings

00:34:10.540 you're still

00:34:10.900 a bit

00:34:11.100 of a land

00:34:11.500 owner

00:34:11.680 the local

00:34:12.760 Norman

00:34:13.140 lord

00:34:13.420 is encroaching

00:34:14.160 on your

00:34:14.380 you feel

00:34:15.180 pushed into

00:34:15.800 a corner

00:34:16.240 I mean

00:34:17.440 sure buddy

00:34:17.980 what are you

00:34:18.280 going to do

00:34:18.480 take on

00:34:18.840 the might

00:34:19.220 of Norman

00:34:19.600 England

00:34:19.800 now

00:34:20.340 there are

00:34:21.460 occasions

00:34:22.100 where perhaps

00:34:22.840 it works

00:34:23.280 but it's

00:34:24.320 funny

00:34:24.500 I don't

00:34:24.700 think we

00:34:24.900 hear about

00:34:25.360 this as

00:34:25.760 much

00:34:26.100 and maybe

00:34:26.940 you march

00:34:28.300 your tenants

00:34:28.900 out

00:34:29.240 and the

00:34:29.760 local

00:34:30.020 Norman

00:34:30.360 enforcer

00:34:31.000 the lord

00:34:31.520 the bastard

00:34:32.980 brother

00:34:33.340 of William

00:34:33.840 the first

00:34:34.340 or his

00:34:34.640 cousin

00:34:35.960 marches

00:34:36.760 and go

00:34:37.120 look let's

00:34:37.560 not fight

00:34:38.000 you can

00:34:38.740 have your

00:34:38.980 land tenure

00:34:39.460 back

00:34:39.660 maybe there

00:34:40.300 are examples

00:34:40.880 of these

00:34:41.300 rebellions

00:34:43.220 actually achieving

00:34:44.120 some kind of

00:34:44.620 political outcome

00:34:45.280 but often

00:34:45.900 as far as I can

00:34:46.520 make out

00:34:46.840 what happens

00:34:47.120 particularly in

00:34:47.420 the Norman

00:34:47.660 post-conquest

00:34:48.820 period

00:34:49.060 is Exeter

00:34:49.900 he just

00:34:50.280 kicks the

00:34:50.660 shit out

00:34:51.000 of everyone

00:34:51.300 well

00:34:52.100 actually he

00:34:53.540 does

00:34:53.780 well he

00:34:54.940 gets his

00:34:55.320 own way

00:34:55.780 and he

00:34:56.280 builds a

00:34:56.640 massive

00:34:56.860 castle

00:34:57.180 in Exeter

00:34:57.500 that rebellion

00:34:58.080 doesn't I don't

00:34:58.560 think succeed

00:34:59.200 that may be

00:34:59.860 that beneath

00:35:00.540 the surface

00:35:01.120 there are some

00:35:01.620 deals done

00:35:02.240 and everyone

00:35:02.560 agrees to chill

00:35:03.280 out a bit

00:35:03.600 but I mean

00:35:04.200 certainly in the

00:35:04.640 north of England

00:35:05.120 it's sort of

00:35:05.520 genocidal warfare

00:35:06.620 and in East

00:35:08.040 Anglia you get

00:35:08.800 an aristocratic

00:35:09.840 Anglo-Saxon

00:35:10.640 who was

00:35:11.420 apparently called

00:35:12.260 Herod the Wake

00:35:12.940 one of the great

00:35:13.400 characters

00:35:13.800 he may have been

00:35:15.080 abroad for the

00:35:15.660 Battle of Hastings

00:35:16.120 so he may have

00:35:16.560 been a mercenary

00:35:17.100 abroad but his

00:35:17.940 family were

00:35:18.400 dispossessed

00:35:18.860 his brother

00:35:19.360 was killed

00:35:19.800 and so he

00:35:21.160 comes back

00:35:21.540 and fights this

00:35:22.220 kind of hopeless

00:35:23.160 battle against the

00:35:24.140 Normans

00:35:24.540 for reasons

00:35:25.740 again I

00:35:26.560 sort of struggle

00:35:27.160 but I think

00:35:27.540 they're often

00:35:28.100 elite led

00:35:28.780 so they will

00:35:29.980 be and they

00:35:31.220 will call up

00:35:31.760 their tenants

00:35:32.200 they will call

00:35:32.820 up other

00:35:33.900 people that

00:35:34.400 are at risk

00:35:34.700 of being

00:35:34.980 dispossessed

00:35:35.980 and I suppose

00:35:36.920 if your

00:35:37.480 entire status

00:35:38.800 your entire

00:35:39.620 lifestyle depends

00:35:40.560 on maintaining

00:35:41.260 land holdings

00:35:42.480 if the local

00:35:43.720 Norman lords

00:35:44.440 who are being

00:35:44.760 put in across

00:35:45.460 the country

00:35:46.060 as enforcers

00:35:47.320 they're locking

00:35:48.440 things down

00:35:48.940 by building

00:35:49.320 these castles

00:35:49.980 that have been

00:35:50.360 seen before

00:35:50.960 in England

00:35:51.460 and indeed in

00:35:52.380 Wales

00:35:52.680 so you're

00:35:53.820 locking in

00:35:54.540 that power

00:35:55.100 castles are

00:35:55.920 what you

00:35:56.160 build

00:35:56.400 when the

00:35:56.680 locals

00:35:57.100 hate you

00:35:59.320 right

00:36:00.260 so if

00:36:01.120 you're in

00:36:01.520 a castle

00:36:01.960 it is a

00:36:03.040 statement

00:36:03.480 in stone

00:36:04.320 initially in

00:36:04.920 wood and

00:36:05.320 soil

00:36:05.520 but then in

00:36:05.880 stone

00:36:06.140 we're going

00:36:06.820 to wait

00:36:07.980 this out

00:36:08.520 we're going

00:36:08.820 to sit

00:36:09.000 in this

00:36:09.160 goddamn

00:36:09.460 castle

00:36:09.740 for three

00:36:10.100 generations

00:36:10.560 if we

00:36:10.880 have to

00:36:11.200 we're going

00:36:11.640 to lock

00:36:11.820 it down

00:36:12.080 it's what

00:36:12.780 the western

00:36:14.220 allies were

00:36:14.740 unprepared to

00:36:15.440 do

00:36:15.680 in Afghanistan

00:36:17.180 you just go

00:36:18.160 mate

00:36:18.420 actually do you

00:36:19.500 know what

00:36:19.860 if the Taliban

00:36:21.160 sort of control

00:36:21.860 the countryside

00:36:22.340 we don't give a

00:36:23.180 shit

00:36:23.380 we're going

00:36:23.920 to control

00:36:25.140 Kandahar

00:36:26.440 and Cabal

00:36:27.080 forever

00:36:27.720 and not going

00:36:28.200 anywhere

00:36:28.540 now of course

00:36:29.500 no one

00:36:30.020 believed that

00:36:31.100 the western

00:36:32.880 moxies had

00:36:33.460 that level

00:36:33.900 of stubbornness

00:36:34.620 or commitment

00:36:35.460 so rightly

00:36:36.500 they didn't

00:36:37.660 whereas the

00:36:38.320 Normans are

00:36:38.720 saying we're

00:36:39.280 here mate

00:36:39.660 and so you get

00:36:40.840 the situation

00:36:41.320 where there

00:36:42.240 are just

00:36:42.640 these beacons

00:36:43.640 of Norman

00:36:44.180 might

00:36:44.560 and the

00:36:45.100 English

00:36:45.360 can't get

00:36:46.320 the English

00:36:47.160 owned the

00:36:47.680 night

00:36:47.880 they owned

00:36:48.340 the countryside

00:36:48.900 they would

00:36:49.340 cut Norman

00:36:49.880 throats

00:36:50.300 on a road

00:36:50.680 if they met

00:36:51.120 them

00:36:51.300 but you've

00:36:52.460 got these

00:36:52.780 little

00:36:53.020 nodes

00:36:53.760 of Norman

00:36:54.260 that eventually

00:36:55.880 allow Norman

00:36:57.080 power to be

00:36:57.880 sort of

00:36:58.100 embedded

00:36:58.560 and allow

00:36:59.280 Normans

00:36:59.780 to marry

00:37:00.880 you know

00:37:01.120 occasionally

00:37:01.500 they'll marry

00:37:02.020 into the local

00:37:02.560 elite

00:37:02.760 they'll co-opt

00:37:03.320 the local

00:37:03.680 elite

00:37:03.840 they'll kill

00:37:04.340 them

00:37:04.500 they'll dispossess

00:37:05.240 them

00:37:05.520 and it's a

00:37:06.320 generational

00:37:06.940 project

00:37:07.600 Dan

00:37:08.720 so when you're

00:37:09.700 talking about

00:37:10.340 the resistance

00:37:10.900 part of me

00:37:11.700 started to think

00:37:13.000 how much of

00:37:13.840 actually English

00:37:14.560 culture at that

00:37:15.220 time was an

00:37:15.760 honour culture

00:37:16.480 yeah

00:37:17.480 exactly

00:37:19.000 it could well

00:37:21.400 be that you

00:37:21.860 said well

00:37:22.240 I am

00:37:23.620 I am

00:37:24.400 I would

00:37:25.600 rather choose

00:37:26.800 a certain

00:37:27.400 death

00:37:27.860 than submit

00:37:29.060 to these

00:37:30.340 foreign

00:37:31.340 French speaking

00:37:32.280 landowners

00:37:32.920 give up my

00:37:33.720 place in

00:37:34.220 society

00:37:34.560 give up my

00:37:34.920 place in

00:37:35.340 the hierarchy

00:37:35.760 because when

00:37:36.620 you talked

00:37:37.120 about that

00:37:37.800 the nobleman

00:37:39.520 returning

00:37:40.040 whose family

00:37:41.360 had been

00:37:41.720 slaughtered

00:37:42.320 and he fought

00:37:42.860 a hopeless

00:37:43.380 war

00:37:43.780 well I think

00:37:45.500 if you look

00:37:46.100 at it from a

00:37:46.480 logistical point

00:37:47.200 of view

00:37:47.420 you could say

00:37:47.840 it's hopeless

00:37:48.280 but from an

00:37:48.880 honour point

00:37:49.720 of view

00:37:50.080 this is revenge

00:37:51.500 of course

00:37:52.200 absolutely

00:37:52.740 yeah

00:37:53.600 and these

00:37:54.580 people

00:37:54.960 once they've

00:37:56.520 been outlawed

00:37:57.380 once they've

00:37:57.980 crossed that

00:37:58.800 in that sort

00:37:59.500 of invisible

00:37:59.900 perhaps quite

00:38:00.380 visible line

00:38:01.120 they have no

00:38:01.880 choice but to

00:38:02.460 fight

00:38:02.660 so why not

00:38:03.160 fight

00:38:03.440 let me

00:38:04.920 introduce you

00:38:05.480 to the people

00:38:06.040 I work with

00:38:06.920 to protect

00:38:07.460 my family

00:38:08.040 against financial

00:38:08.840 instability

00:38:09.480 inflation

00:38:10.200 and turmoil

00:38:11.020 for me

00:38:11.760 one of the

00:38:12.520 best ways

00:38:13.020 to safeguard

00:38:13.580 your wealth

00:38:14.100 is by investing

00:38:14.900 in gold

00:38:15.420 and that's why

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00:38:29.680 gold is a

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00:38:32.540 it's outside

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00:38:34.640 so it can't

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00:38:47.400 them is a

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00:38:49.880 they explain

00:38:50.820 everything clearly

00:38:51.740 so you feel

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00:38:53.440 your decisions

00:38:54.100 and they never

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00:39:00.640 that other assets

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00:39:05.200 falters

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00:39:27.480 take control

00:39:28.380 So we see

00:39:32.860 Norman England

00:39:33.460 we see the

00:39:34.140 tentacles of

00:39:35.260 the Norman

00:39:36.160 rulers stretch

00:39:37.180 out into the

00:39:37.780 English countryside

00:39:38.600 subdue

00:39:39.560 submit

00:39:40.620 take control

00:39:41.780 how does that

00:39:43.420 then transition

00:39:44.120 into the

00:39:44.660 medieval period

00:39:45.520 and the

00:39:46.040 dark ages?

00:39:47.300 Well so the

00:39:47.640 dark age is

00:39:48.180 what people

00:39:48.520 used to call

00:39:49.300 this bit

00:39:49.720 after the

00:39:50.100 Roman rule

00:39:50.520 so the

00:39:51.700 dark ages

00:39:52.460 are what

00:39:52.820 historians now

00:39:53.520 call the

00:39:54.120 early middle

00:39:54.580 ages

00:39:54.940 Is it

00:39:55.680 politically

00:39:56.020 incorrect

00:39:56.380 to call them

00:39:56.900 the dark ages?

00:39:57.940 Really?

00:39:58.540 Because there

00:39:58.780 was all sorts

00:39:59.240 no doubt

00:39:59.620 of wonderful

00:40:00.040 things going

00:40:00.580 on but we

00:40:01.040 just don't

00:40:01.280 know as

00:40:01.700 much about

00:40:02.100 them because

00:40:02.560 it's a bit

00:40:02.980 more

00:40:03.300 I always thought

00:40:04.040 that's what

00:40:04.360 the dark ages

00:40:05.040 meant that we

00:40:05.660 didn't have the

00:40:06.300 light to see

00:40:06.940 fully into them

00:40:07.660 You may think

00:40:08.700 that I couldn't

00:40:09.200 possibly comment

00:40:09.860 I didn't realise

00:40:11.380 this was a

00:40:12.200 controversy

00:40:12.800 No it's a big

00:40:13.780 controversy I'm

00:40:14.220 glad I've just

00:40:14.720 let you know

00:40:15.140 It's the age of

00:40:15.740 colour

00:40:15.980 We don't want you

00:40:16.480 guys getting

00:40:16.920 candied

00:40:17.160 This was a very

00:40:19.500 colourful time

00:40:20.100 No but seriously

00:40:22.400 it's a controversy

00:40:23.100 That term is now

00:40:26.120 gone

00:40:26.280 Look I think

00:40:27.300 there is an

00:40:27.940 element

00:40:28.160 because that

00:40:28.800 term

00:40:29.240 it's not just

00:40:31.920 in an archival

00:40:32.640 sense

00:40:32.940 we find it

00:40:34.460 difficult to

00:40:34.980 see what's

00:40:35.520 going on

00:40:35.920 I think it

00:40:36.580 was in an

00:40:37.560 era where

00:40:38.260 we thought

00:40:40.280 that the

00:40:41.520 light of

00:40:42.040 Christianity

00:40:42.520 had sort of

00:40:43.080 disappeared

00:40:43.620 from much

00:40:45.660 of England

00:40:46.420 following that

00:40:47.100 following the

00:40:48.540 crashing out

00:40:49.580 of the Roman

00:40:50.200 Empire

00:40:50.520 of Britain

00:40:51.560 so I think

00:40:52.440 it's a term

00:40:54.180 loaded with

00:40:54.820 inference

00:40:55.660 around

00:40:56.200 tragically

00:40:57.800 the light

00:40:58.200 of Jesus

00:40:58.980 our Saviour

00:40:59.540 had been

00:40:59.780 withdrawn from

00:41:00.240 us as well

00:41:00.580 but in terms

00:41:01.620 of our

00:41:02.740 ability to

00:41:03.360 see exactly

00:41:04.000 what happened

00:41:04.420 there was less

00:41:05.120 impressive record

00:41:06.480 keeping

00:41:06.820 at that time

00:41:07.780 and traditionally

00:41:09.340 we would have

00:41:09.980 said the

00:41:10.900 end of the

00:41:11.500 dark age

00:41:11.920 the end of

00:41:12.540 the early

00:41:12.940 medieval

00:41:13.320 is this

00:41:13.920 Norman

00:41:14.180 it seems a

00:41:14.800 watershed

00:41:15.240 moment in

00:41:15.620 English

00:41:15.780 history

00:41:16.040 which is

00:41:16.780 why our

00:41:17.900 king list

00:41:18.340 inexplicably

00:41:19.240 dates from

00:41:20.420 William I

00:41:20.980 which is

00:41:22.080 weird when

00:41:22.360 you think

00:41:22.540 about it

00:41:22.840 so my

00:41:23.560 hottest take

00:41:24.340 is that

00:41:24.700 Edward I

00:41:25.260 should in

00:41:25.580 fact be

00:41:25.860 Edward IV

00:41:27.880 I think it

00:41:28.260 is

00:41:28.380 so the

00:41:28.980 Anglo-Saxon

00:41:29.600 kings of

00:41:30.000 England

00:41:30.280 should be

00:41:31.220 included in

00:41:31.620 our

00:41:31.720 king list

00:41:32.080 very strange

00:41:32.880 so we get

00:41:34.220 William and

00:41:34.700 that tends

00:41:35.240 to bring us

00:41:35.660 into what

00:41:36.040 people call

00:41:36.340 the medieval

00:41:36.800 period

00:41:37.260 and you

00:41:38.000 mentioned

00:41:38.260 tentacles

00:41:38.660 are in

00:41:38.920 England

00:41:39.140 of course

00:41:39.560 actually

00:41:40.340 it's the

00:41:41.920 beginning of

00:41:42.400 a process

00:41:42.880 by where

00:41:43.480 these Norman

00:41:44.700 lords

00:41:46.020 and kings

00:41:46.820 will very

00:41:48.120 stop

00:41:48.460 start

00:41:48.880 but try

00:41:49.560 to bring

00:41:50.180 the whole

00:41:50.700 archipelago

00:41:51.260 under their

00:41:51.720 sway

00:41:52.020 so we

00:41:52.900 get

00:41:53.080 Wales

00:41:54.860 happens

00:41:55.420 very quickly

00:41:56.080 these marcher

00:41:57.220 lords

00:41:57.520 these thugs

00:41:58.680 who William the

00:41:59.460 Conqueror puts

00:41:59.960 in charge

00:42:00.420 of key

00:42:01.000 castles

00:42:01.900 and key

00:42:02.260 territory

00:42:02.640 on the

00:42:02.900 borders

00:42:03.120 of Wales

00:42:03.580 we get

00:42:04.760 Hugh the

00:42:05.280 Wolf

00:42:05.600 in Chester

00:42:07.180 for example

00:42:07.660 he lunges

00:42:08.640 along the

00:42:09.080 North Wales

00:42:09.600 coast

00:42:09.860 he captures

00:42:10.260 Anglesey

00:42:10.800 quite early

00:42:11.260 on

00:42:11.480 we get

00:42:12.060 pushing

00:42:12.420 into

00:42:12.700 Glamorgan

00:42:13.220 we get

00:42:14.380 pushed

00:42:14.920 into

00:42:15.160 Scotland

00:42:15.560 and then

00:42:16.580 eventually

00:42:17.020 under

00:42:17.840 Henry

00:42:18.060 the

00:42:18.220 second

00:42:18.520 so

00:42:19.020 William

00:42:19.580 Conqueror's

00:42:20.740 great

00:42:20.980 grandson

00:42:21.360 we will

00:42:23.280 get

00:42:23.620 pushing

00:42:25.340 into

00:42:25.600 Ireland

00:42:25.880 as well

00:42:26.180 so you

00:42:26.760 start to

00:42:27.440 see

00:42:27.780 and this

00:42:29.020 is why

00:42:29.460 this

00:42:30.220 Englishness

00:42:31.140 versus

00:42:31.460 Britishness

00:42:32.040 versus

00:42:32.300 British and

00:42:32.720 Irishness

00:42:33.040 it's

00:42:33.400 complicated

00:42:33.760 it's

00:42:33.980 overlapping

00:42:34.240 so

00:42:35.040 so

00:42:35.100 we

00:42:36.000 we

00:42:36.040 now

00:42:36.540 have

00:42:36.940 this

00:42:37.200 medieval

00:42:37.600 period

00:42:38.140 and

00:42:38.880 one

00:42:39.060 of

00:42:39.160 the

00:42:39.280 things

00:42:39.520 that

00:42:39.660 we

00:42:39.780 think

00:42:40.080 about

00:42:40.300 with

00:42:40.440 the

00:42:40.560 medieval

00:42:40.860 period

00:42:41.280 is

00:42:41.560 the

00:42:41.700 Magna

00:42:42.000 Carta

00:42:42.380 yeah

00:42:42.920 so let's

00:42:43.800 talk about

00:42:44.280 the Magna

00:42:44.760 Carta

00:42:45.060 right

00:42:45.460 I'm into it

00:42:47.360 I'm into it

00:42:47.940 the wellspring

00:42:49.080 of Anglo-Saxon

00:42:50.020 liberty

00:42:50.340 let's do this

00:42:51.340 the rule of law

00:42:51.960 okay so

00:42:52.500 William the

00:42:54.800 Conqueror

00:42:55.320 spends his

00:42:56.200 entire life

00:42:57.060 with his

00:42:57.480 arse in the

00:42:58.420 saddle and

00:42:58.860 his sword in

00:42:59.320 his hand

00:42:59.660 trying to keep

00:43:00.280 this ridiculous

00:43:01.280 trans-maritime

00:43:02.260 empire in one

00:43:03.200 piece

00:43:03.580 campaigning in

00:43:04.580 Scotland

00:43:04.900 campaigning in

00:43:06.040 England

00:43:06.320 campaigning in

00:43:07.080 France

00:43:07.440 which is just

00:43:08.040 a nightmare

00:43:08.900 on the borders

00:43:09.620 of Normandy

00:43:10.200 enemies all

00:43:10.980 over the shop

00:43:11.560 his sons

00:43:13.420 fight each

00:43:14.320 other

00:43:15.280 Robert

00:43:17.080 Henry I

00:43:18.460 William I

00:43:19.840 all at each

00:43:20.780 other's throats

00:43:21.280 the whole time

00:43:22.020 Henry I

00:43:24.020 succeeds

00:43:24.820 eventually

00:43:25.400 Henry I

00:43:26.400 dies without

00:43:27.120 a male heir

00:43:28.120 he had

00:43:29.340 hundreds of

00:43:30.140 illegitimate

00:43:30.540 children but

00:43:31.040 he could not

00:43:31.780 get the

00:43:32.500 legitimate male

00:43:33.340 heir done

00:43:33.920 properly

00:43:34.220 he did have

00:43:34.860 a couple

00:43:35.180 of legitimate

00:43:35.520 kids but

00:43:35.860 he died in

00:43:36.220 a famous

00:43:36.500 shipwreck

00:43:36.800 called the

00:43:37.060 White Ship

00:43:37.380 he leaves

00:43:39.220 the throne

00:43:39.500 to his

00:43:39.840 daughter

00:43:40.300 it doesn't

00:43:42.060 work out

00:43:42.380 so Matilda

00:43:45.540 and her

00:43:46.100 cousin

00:43:46.540 Stephen

00:43:47.040 fight

00:43:47.740 so William

00:43:48.640 the Conqueror's

00:43:49.200 sons fight

00:43:50.680 each other

00:43:51.080 Matilda and

00:43:51.880 Stephen fight

00:43:52.460 each other

00:43:52.940 Matilda's son

00:43:54.060 Henry fights

00:43:55.120 Stephen and

00:43:56.220 eventually Stephen

00:43:57.180 dies

00:43:57.640 his son

00:43:58.360 thankfully dies

00:43:59.120 and so Henry

00:44:00.180 is left as the

00:44:00.840 uncontested

00:44:01.560 king of England

00:44:02.740 the line of

00:44:04.180 William if you

00:44:04.720 like has been

00:44:05.280 sort of

00:44:06.060 winnowed down

00:44:06.800 and just about

00:44:07.600 after

00:44:08.000 inter-Nissan

00:44:09.160 fighting

00:44:09.600 Henry the

00:44:10.600 second

00:44:10.920 guess what

00:44:11.700 his kids

00:44:12.060 do

00:44:12.320 his kids

00:44:13.100 go after

00:44:13.940 each other

00:44:14.340 as well

00:44:14.760 we have

00:44:15.680 we have

00:44:17.160 Henry

00:44:18.680 we got

00:44:19.020 several

00:44:19.300 we got

00:44:19.620 Henry the

00:44:19.980 young king

00:44:20.440 we have

00:44:21.540 we have

00:44:23.100 Richard the

00:44:23.780 Lionheart

00:44:24.140 we have

00:44:24.600 John

00:44:24.960 we have

00:44:25.380 Geoffrey

00:44:25.860 so they all

00:44:26.640 fight amongst

00:44:27.140 each other

00:44:27.540 and with their

00:44:27.860 dad an

00:44:28.200 absolute nightmare

00:44:28.720 Richard the

00:44:29.620 Lionheart

00:44:29.900 becomes king

00:44:30.480 absolute

00:44:31.080 baller

00:44:31.720 smashes

00:44:32.320 people all

00:44:32.940 over France

00:44:33.520 gets the

00:44:34.900 nickname

00:44:35.140 Lionheart

00:44:36.000 now he

00:44:37.020 dies without

00:44:37.660 an air

00:44:38.060 horrific wound

00:44:38.960 from a crossbow

00:44:39.560 bolt while he's

00:44:40.060 besieging some

00:44:40.640 pointless little

00:44:41.340 castle in France

00:44:42.100 poor guy

00:44:42.620 absolutely tragic

00:44:43.400 moment

00:44:43.760 and his little

00:44:45.100 brother becomes

00:44:45.940 king because he

00:44:46.280 doesn't have his

00:44:46.600 sons either

00:44:47.160 his little

00:44:47.780 brother's nickname

00:44:48.380 is Soft

00:44:49.180 Sword

00:44:49.580 so Soft

00:44:51.020 Sword takes her

00:44:51.680 from Lionheart

00:44:52.340 and guess what

00:44:53.080 happens lads

00:44:53.640 the king of

00:44:54.360 France just

00:44:54.760 motors in and

00:44:55.440 just smashes the

00:44:56.280 whole English

00:44:57.140 empire in France

00:44:57.800 that all just

00:44:58.300 goes all the

00:44:59.140 lands in France

00:44:59.760 go Normandy

00:45:00.720 goes the whole

00:45:01.320 lot in England

00:45:02.840 the barons so

00:45:03.780 these lords

00:45:04.560 turn on John

00:45:06.020 they sniff

00:45:06.680 weakness and

00:45:07.420 you get Magna

00:45:07.980 Carter which

00:45:08.520 is a peace

00:45:10.200 treaty between

00:45:10.940 the lords of

00:45:12.080 England and

00:45:13.980 this useless

00:45:14.640 king this

00:45:15.360 weak king and

00:45:16.320 they think we're

00:45:16.940 going to get

00:45:17.200 some concessions

00:45:17.900 out of this

00:45:18.240 guy now he's

00:45:19.200 a deeply

00:45:19.700 unpleasant man

00:45:20.320 as well so

00:45:21.240 he's done

00:45:21.580 things like

00:45:22.000 starve his

00:45:22.520 enemies today

00:45:23.000 he's treated

00:45:23.600 the noble

00:45:24.000 his death

00:45:25.680 duties are

00:45:26.160 through the

00:45:26.440 roof they

00:45:26.740 don't like

00:45:27.060 paying death

00:45:27.480 duties

00:45:27.780 he's making

00:45:28.780 people pay

00:45:29.200 inheritance tax

00:45:29.820 he's marrying

00:45:31.060 he's marrying

00:45:32.420 heiresses from

00:45:34.180 the aristocracy to

00:45:34.880 his mates so

00:45:36.360 that they inherit

00:45:37.040 their estate

00:45:37.620 he's a deeply

00:45:39.780 unpleasant human

00:45:40.500 being and

00:45:41.420 he's a bad

00:45:42.620 politician and

00:45:43.620 he's terrible on

00:45:44.440 the battlefield so

00:45:45.100 he's just the

00:45:45.520 absolute perfect

00:45:46.280 storm of shite

00:45:47.140 medieval king

00:45:47.820 and so sensing

00:45:49.420 weakness they

00:45:50.060 present Magna

00:45:50.820 Carter which is a

00:45:51.460 series of concerns

00:45:53.160 they have and

00:45:53.840 obligations they

00:45:54.920 want him to sign

00:45:55.420 up to and he

00:45:56.600 has no choice he

00:45:57.280 does everything

00:45:57.640 possible and he

00:45:58.360 signs up to them

00:45:59.080 and it roughly

00:46:00.460 speaking it sort

00:46:02.860 of implies that

00:46:04.320 the king is

00:46:04.860 prepared to abide

00:46:06.380 by legal agreements

00:46:07.620 which is the

00:46:08.420 thing that we

00:46:08.820 all now find

00:46:09.400 important that

00:46:10.360 the tyrant the

00:46:11.540 Hobbesian

00:46:12.120 Leviathan is

00:46:13.320 prepared to be

00:46:13.900 bound by the

00:46:15.360 law of the land

00:46:16.060 and let's just

00:46:16.900 put a double

00:46:17.400 click on that

00:46:17.900 for one second

00:46:18.520 because one

00:46:20.060 thing I think

00:46:20.560 modern humans

00:46:21.480 finding it was

00:46:22.300 certainly modern

00:46:22.740 western humans

00:46:23.500 let me make that

00:46:24.680 exception find

00:46:26.000 very difficult to

00:46:26.880 understand in a

00:46:28.280 monarchy of the

00:46:29.080 kind of in an

00:46:29.800 absolute monarchy of

00:46:30.680 the kind that we're

00:46:31.220 talking about there

00:46:32.760 is no law there's

00:46:33.640 the king's will

00:46:34.260 in theory yes in

00:46:38.680 practice there's all

00:46:39.540 sorts of customary

00:46:40.760 and sort of

00:46:41.920 traditional ways in

00:46:44.220 which the king would

00:46:44.920 demonstrate that he

00:46:45.900 he's ruling well on

00:46:47.280 behind in hand in

00:46:48.840 glove with his

00:46:49.440 with the church and

00:46:51.140 the aristocrats so

00:46:52.660 technically yes the

00:46:53.840 king can just go you

00:46:54.780 I want I'm chop your

00:46:55.560 head off right but

00:46:56.840 there there is a

00:46:59.060 there is a sense in

00:47:00.220 which the king is

00:47:00.900 bound by the

00:47:02.420 customary traditional

00:47:04.340 unless you get a

00:47:05.800 king joffrey or a

00:47:06.860 king unless you get

00:47:07.580 joffrey game thrones

00:47:09.480 unless you get king

00:47:10.400 john right who will

00:47:11.420 go or in later

00:47:12.780 periods we see you

00:47:13.720 know with charles the

00:47:14.720 first they will come

00:47:15.980 to those so uh so

00:47:17.740 so john says roughly

00:47:19.560 speaking I will be

00:47:20.420 bound by these

00:47:21.300 obligations and that

00:47:22.380 involves a lot most

00:47:23.340 of it's to with money

00:47:24.000 and and and the

00:47:24.900 concerns the aristocracy

00:47:25.800 but there's things like

00:47:26.560 I will detain no free

00:47:28.320 man and no free man

00:47:29.340 will be tried by other

00:47:30.160 than by his peers and

00:47:31.200 your fair trials all

00:47:32.320 that kind of thing

00:47:32.780 king john reneges on

00:47:34.760 that a couple of

00:47:35.560 months later so it's

00:47:37.060 so it sounds like

00:47:37.780 Keir Starmer yeah

00:47:38.780 it's a dead letter it's

00:47:40.860 a dead letter it's not

00:47:41.460 what the paper is

00:47:42.020 written on and we

00:47:42.560 would never have heard

00:47:43.220 of it were it not for

00:47:44.020 a few things that

00:47:44.640 happened uh the barons

00:47:46.920 then invite the french

00:47:48.420 prince come over and

00:47:49.060 take the throne many of

00:47:50.860 the barons so there is

00:47:51.960 this civil war brutal

00:47:53.160 civil war in england

00:47:54.340 invasion people say 10

00:47:55.500 6 and 10 6 6 last

00:47:56.820 invasion of england

00:47:57.400 absolute balls there's a

00:47:59.240 great invasion but this

00:48:00.520 one's backed by lots of

00:48:01.360 people in england and

00:48:02.240 all these barons are

00:48:03.040 marching with prince

00:48:04.160 louis of france and

00:48:05.060 prince louis and

00:48:05.680 saint paul's cathedral

00:48:06.300 everyone's like yeah he

00:48:07.060 wasn't crowned but they

00:48:07.860 sort of acclaimed him

00:48:08.680 king in saint paul's

00:48:09.420 cathedral and then he

00:48:10.420 goes north and that's

00:48:11.220 when we get the greatest

00:48:11.920 hero of english medieval

00:48:13.320 history it's called

00:48:13.880 william the marshal who

00:48:15.440 just goes he's like is

00:48:16.620 70 years old he's fought

00:48:18.520 for he's like he's been

00:48:19.400 the power behind the

00:48:20.180 throne of like four kings

00:48:21.280 at this point and he

00:48:22.500 just goes no i'm sticking

00:48:25.400 with john and that

00:48:26.780 decision is made easier

00:48:27.800 by the fact that john

00:48:28.740 dies of dysentery which

00:48:29.760 is great so john saves

00:48:31.200 his dynasty by dying of

00:48:32.300 dysentery he completely

00:48:33.900 screws the whole thing

00:48:34.640 up he's absolutely

00:48:35.340 hopeless and he ends up

00:48:36.400 losing the crown jewels

00:48:37.660 in the wash crosses the

00:48:38.820 wash the tide comes in he

00:48:39.900 loses the crown jewels

00:48:40.640 he ends up in lincolnshire

00:48:41.580 he's in he's in new at

00:48:43.020 cars i think it is he's got

00:48:44.080 dysentery he dies best

00:48:45.600 thing he ever did so he

00:48:46.540 leaves a nine-year-old son

00:48:47.740 and so you've now got a

00:48:49.300 choice between this french

00:48:50.100 prince or actually the

00:48:52.420 nine-year-old son who might

00:48:53.320 be quite pliant and the

00:48:54.540 nine-year-old son has got

00:48:55.920 the marshal on his back and

00:48:57.860 and the marshal meets the

00:48:59.200 nine-year-old son the

00:48:59.840 nine-year-old just goes

00:49:00.520 my kingdom is depends on

00:49:03.200 your work marshal could

00:49:04.140 have killed him there and

00:49:04.780 then he could have said

00:49:05.320 fine sorry i'm with and the

00:49:06.840 marshal knelt down and went

00:49:07.840 fine i'm with you kiddo it's

00:49:09.520 the right one of the most

00:49:10.200 romantic and amazing

00:49:11.980 moments in english history

00:49:13.020 and he kneels to his

00:49:14.460 sovereign and he says and

00:49:15.460 he and then he says to

00:49:16.200 people people say it's a

00:49:17.200 hopeless cause and he goes

00:49:17.920 i've decided i'm i'm all i'm

00:49:19.840 all in on the plantagenet

00:49:20.820 family i'm all in on this

00:49:21.820 henry the third if i have to

00:49:23.840 carry him on my back from

00:49:25.300 island to island i will

00:49:26.360 protect the life of that

00:49:27.320 boy and so he goes to

00:49:28.800 lincoln and he smashes the

00:49:30.720 french and rebel army at

00:49:31.760 lincoln one of the great

00:49:32.340 battles of english history

00:49:33.340 in the streets of lincoln

00:49:34.800 william the marshal 70 years

00:49:36.320 old piles in just

00:49:38.160 absolutely smokes a night

00:49:39.680 we we have this account

00:49:40.660 written admittedly by

00:49:41.600 william the marshal's son

00:49:42.360 just absolutely rinses this

00:49:45.820 particular one particular

00:49:46.680 guy and um and then the

00:49:48.960 french and then there's a

00:49:49.880 great sea battle off the

00:49:51.000 sandwich in kent the french

00:49:52.920 relieving army get crushed

00:49:54.240 there one of the many sea

00:49:55.820 battles in which the

00:49:56.640 english and british will

00:49:57.520 smoke the french over the

00:49:59.380 centuries which is a

00:50:00.180 recurring feature of

00:50:00.940 history thankfully and

00:50:02.500 then so so so england

00:50:03.880 plantagenet england is safe

00:50:04.920 so you have henry the

00:50:05.460 third now he reissues

00:50:07.520 magna carta to get the

00:50:09.500 barons back he'll he so

00:50:10.800 he is the one weirdly

00:50:11.940 william the marshal henry

00:50:13.020 the third go they go you

00:50:14.840 remember that thing you

00:50:15.520 made my dad sign we

00:50:16.940 reissue it now so we will

00:50:18.820 embrace it we are signing

00:50:20.160 up to this and it's that

00:50:21.520 reissue and the reissue by

00:50:23.040 henry's son edward it's the

00:50:24.360 fact that it becomes this

00:50:25.640 sort of document that is

00:50:27.960 imbued with meaning which is

00:50:29.480 what yes we promised a rule

00:50:31.040 by that in the ethos of this

00:50:33.260 bloody magna carta thing that

00:50:34.540 you made my granddad sign you

00:50:35.920 know that's why it matters it

00:50:37.420 matters because we have placed

00:50:39.000 our faith in it it's like a

00:50:40.160 sort of religious document but

00:50:41.240 the other reason that matters

00:50:42.260 and correct me if any of this

00:50:43.380 isn't correct is that it's one

00:50:45.260 of the first times in history

00:50:46.800 when the absolute power of the

00:50:49.620 monarch is constrained and

00:50:51.980 that's why people argue that

00:50:53.940 it's it's a founding document

00:50:57.080 you might say of our democracy

00:50:58.200 because it's people people think

00:51:00.000 it's about giving power to the

00:51:00.980 people it had nothing to do with

00:51:01.640 the people but it's a way of

00:51:03.360 just diffusing some of that

00:51:05.520 absolute power to the people

00:51:07.060 below the ruler the king the

00:51:09.500 sovereign is subject to the

00:51:11.780 written word of the law that

00:51:13.220 that that's didn't always

00:51:14.180 didn't work in practice but

00:51:15.760 but and there had been it was

00:51:17.080 based on things before Henry

00:51:18.240 the first issued a kind of

00:51:19.320 proclamation when he was

00:51:20.200 crowned he was trying to win

00:51:21.060 over and over again I promise

00:51:21.960 to rule in these ways so so

00:51:23.640 it's a promise it's a

00:51:24.600 commitment it's magna carta

00:51:25.880 it's unfinished guys it's

00:51:27.180 unfinished right as we all

00:51:28.300 know okay this isn't it's

00:51:29.820 like the gettersberg address

00:51:30.880 you know we're still seeing

00:51:31.820 whether this all works in

00:51:32.880 practice right so so but it

00:51:34.380 but it yes it is the king

00:51:35.900 appears to say I accept the

00:51:38.880 fact I can't do whatever I

00:51:39.760 want I am subject to the law

00:51:41.460 and because and then

00:51:44.220 subsequent generations keep

00:51:46.160 we venerate it so it grows

00:51:48.180 stronger it's like a like

00:51:49.660 like the Bible that when

00:51:50.840 when the when the book of

00:51:52.000 Genesis written down doesn't

00:51:53.000 there's no power in that

00:51:54.140 paper that's written that

00:51:55.040 parchment that's written

00:51:55.760 work it's power because of

00:51:57.160 the power we all give it

00:51:58.360 so when Edward the first

00:52:00.260 wants to raise more tax

00:52:01.260 and he goes fine I'll

00:52:02.660 reissue magna carta I was

00:52:03.720 like fine you're done here's

00:52:04.680 more tax so it becomes up it

00:52:06.740 becomes something it means

00:52:08.160 something and so we get to

00:52:11.060 Edward the first and then

00:52:12.480 and then and Magna Carta

00:52:13.740 starts to be embedded in

00:52:14.980 this system we also see the

00:52:16.560 development in the 13th

00:52:17.480 century partly because of

00:52:18.720 Magna Carta let's be

00:52:19.560 controversial of of a

00:52:21.160 system of part of a system

00:52:22.400 where the king will gather

00:52:23.360 advisors to him where he

00:52:24.560 will not try and raise money

00:52:25.680 without the consent of his

00:52:27.380 aristocrats and also of his

00:52:29.100 leading townsmen his

00:52:30.400 merchants his burgers and

00:52:31.900 then we see the house of

00:52:32.620 lords and house of commons

00:52:33.580 developing so we see the

00:52:34.920 beginning of that kind of

00:52:35.840 constant you know consult

00:52:37.500 consultative bodies and

00:52:40.620 Edward the first sort of

00:52:41.720 occasionally gets it wrong

00:52:42.600 but on the whole he's a he

00:52:44.000 is a very dynamic military

00:52:45.680 charismatic impressive king

00:52:48.180 who asserts his rights but

00:52:49.140 he sort of seems to

00:52:50.240 understand he needs to he

00:52:51.560 needs to pay lip service

00:52:52.480 desire to work with that

00:52:54.140 this tradition of Magna

00:52:55.460 Carta in parliament that

00:52:56.280 is built up which say about

00:52:57.880 Edward the first by the way

00:52:58.640 he is he he goes a step

00:53:00.240 further than those previous

00:53:00.980 things he really does try

00:53:02.100 and invade occupy conquer

00:53:04.340 integrate these other parts

00:53:06.360 this unfinished business of

00:53:07.480 the other parts of

00:53:08.060 Britain Wales he's largely

00:53:10.400 successful there's a big

00:53:11.360 uprising a hundred years

00:53:12.240 later which will which

00:53:13.120 will shake that but Wales

00:53:14.600 is incorporated into

00:53:16.040 England which is why for

00:53:17.700 example the Wales the flag

00:53:19.240 of Wales is not on the

00:53:20.100 Union Jack it was not a an

00:53:21.600 act of union a coming

00:53:22.760 together of equals it was a

00:53:23.920 England conquered Wales

00:53:25.660 that's why the England the

00:53:26.580 legal system this is an

00:53:28.200 administrative system of

00:53:29.240 counties it is English it is

00:53:30.640 imposed on Wales Scotland

00:53:32.480 it almost very briefly

00:53:33.600 succeeds over the first very

00:53:34.940 briefly sits there as the

00:53:36.640 king of Britain and it's a

00:53:38.240 very it's an interesting

00:53:39.180 moment he claims the throne

00:53:41.520 of Scotland he and and he

00:53:44.020 he says Scotland is is

00:53:45.300 essentially part of this part

00:53:47.980 of now my my imperial crown

00:53:50.020 there is the uprising people

00:53:51.580 may be familiar with

00:53:52.240 William Wallace so I was

00:53:54.040 about to say this Edward the

00:53:55.340 first is the evil guy he's

00:53:57.180 the evil guy in Braveheart

00:53:58.140 that's right he is yeah he's

00:54:00.060 madly homophobic American

00:54:03.320 audience yeah that's right

00:54:04.400 Americans welcome to the

00:54:05.560 conversation you're still

00:54:06.680 here yeah so this is this is

00:54:09.600 a long shanks long shanks and

00:54:12.100 he was called long shanks he

00:54:12.860 had long legs and he was very

00:54:14.220 tall and then he dies he dies at

00:54:17.400 this of critical moment where

00:54:18.760 William Wallace at first and

00:54:20.000 then Robert the Bruce this

00:54:21.520 Scottish nobleman up up the

00:54:23.480 resistance is it proves very

00:54:25.880 difficult to conquer Scotland to

00:54:27.180 pain in the ass and Scotland's

00:54:29.800 difficult place to conquer

00:54:30.900 why is that it's sorry just

00:54:32.440 very quickly is that because

00:54:33.700 the Scots

00:54:34.260 is it the Scots is it the

00:54:38.260 climate is it the the the

00:54:40.220 landscape or is it all

00:54:41.880 combination all about I think

00:54:43.440 the Scott the Scots were

00:54:44.300 particularly jealous of their

00:54:45.580 independence they realized

00:54:46.720 quite early on whether it's

00:54:47.960 fighting the Romans whether it's

00:54:49.200 fight you know you realize that

00:54:50.260 you there is a powerful entity

00:54:51.680 to the south be that North

00:54:53.460 Thumbria be at the Roman

00:54:54.420 Empire so so generationally

00:54:56.660 you're you're you're protective

00:54:58.200 of your independence you that

00:54:59.540 you are aware there's always

00:55:00.680 people in the southeast island

00:55:01.680 trying to march north and and

00:55:03.080 take your land and your things

00:55:04.400 secondly it is a bit of a

00:55:07.000 nightmare militarily the

00:55:08.280 climate's tough the highlands

00:55:09.960 provide this place where you

00:55:11.240 can withdraw to Robert the

00:55:12.320 Bruce so so Stirling Castle

00:55:14.300 Edinburgh Castle all of these

00:55:16.780 castles are taken by the

00:55:18.040 English but it is very hard to

00:55:19.580 project force into the highlands

00:55:21.420 to to pacify the highlands the

00:55:23.260 highlands were not pacified until

00:55:24.440 the 18th century with an early

00:55:26.380 modern army it is it is very

00:55:28.260 difficult terrain and so there's

00:55:29.880 always a place where you can

00:55:31.080 withdraw to the kings of

00:55:33.200 England as the Roman emperors

00:55:34.460 were before them like okay I

00:55:35.440 think one I think I might spend

00:55:36.840 enough time in Stirling things

00:55:38.080 I've got I've got stuff to do in

00:55:40.060 my lands in France I've got stuff

00:55:41.260 to do in art you know and then the

00:55:42.620 minute you withdraw then the

00:55:44.660 undefeated forces of of of sort of

00:55:47.820 as it were you know independent

00:55:49.600 Scottishness can can re-emerge and

00:55:52.100 and keep contesting those spaces it so

00:55:54.400 I think geographically it's very

00:55:55.480 hard and and and it requires lots

00:55:58.900 of naval assets it's it's it's a

00:56:01.020 isn't there also a cultural thing

00:56:02.560 I remember reading quite a bit

00:56:03.720 Thomas Sowell has written a lot

00:56:04.780 about the cultural differences

00:56:07.100 between mountain people and people

00:56:09.160 who live down in the lowlands and

00:56:11.180 effectively mountain people tend to

00:56:13.140 have this martial culture so the you

00:56:16.100 know the reason the Swiss supplied a

00:56:17.600 million mercenaries to the European

00:56:19.580 armies over the years etc is because

00:56:21.660 when you live in these more

00:56:22.980 mountainous regions the people

00:56:24.620 there develop a much more

00:56:25.900 combative sort of fierce look

00:56:28.080 there's a lot of course there's

00:56:29.180 elements to that and it plays

00:56:30.680 there's all sorts of examples that

00:56:32.160 through history you know this there's

00:56:34.080 there's as someone who's in

00:56:36.140 Hampshire I'd put out the

00:56:37.000 Hampshire regiment of tough as you

00:56:38.740 like and the wars of the British

00:56:40.080 Empire I mean they kick ass the whole

00:56:41.640 time and it's no hills there at

00:56:42.700 all but it but yes it is there is an

00:56:44.780 element that there is also an

00:56:45.700 element in which a almost tribal

00:56:48.500 society endures in that part of

00:56:50.740 Scotland that makes it very easy for

00:56:52.540 noblemen for leaders to call up men

00:56:56.540 of military age so the you end up

00:57:00.180 with you know this people have heard

00:57:01.720 of clans and clan chiefs and certainly

00:57:03.940 by the 18th century you have the

00:57:06.520 tradition of in the of private

00:57:10.140 militaries that's been stamped out

00:57:11.780 around the rest of Britain by that

00:57:13.420 period right so that is an enduring

00:57:15.980 problem in Scotland so I think it's it's

00:57:17.960 yeah it's easy to raise warlike hardy

00:57:20.600 tough men who are good with a with a

00:57:23.040 knife there is a yeah there is a

00:57:24.300 tradition of cattle rustling there's a

00:57:25.760 tradition of endemic conflict with

00:57:27.660 young people in that because it's not a

00:57:29.700 settled agricultural landscape so that

00:57:31.180 are yes there are very sort of

00:57:32.620 interesting complex reasons for that

00:57:34.740 but so so Edward the first fell

00:57:36.180 son Edward the first makes the

00:57:37.880 extraordinary thing about the

00:57:39.380 Plantagenet family is you do just get

00:57:41.600 this very uneven you get very uneven

00:57:44.180 performance by its case Richard the

00:57:46.080 Lionheart John soft sword you know

00:57:48.720 Edward the first Edward the second

00:57:50.960 absolute useless muppet okay so he's

00:57:54.480 he he is falls out with everybody he

00:57:58.540 leads a massive army up north into

00:58:00.180 Scotland and loses the battle of

00:58:01.240 Bannockburn one of the great battles of

00:58:02.620 British history 1314 there's a great

00:58:05.620 moment one one young British nobleman

00:58:07.520 trying to make his name gallants up to

00:58:08.800 Robert King Robert the Bruce is sitting

00:58:09.940 on his stirred little pony Robert the

00:58:11.400 Bruce has watched him come then stands

00:58:12.820 up in his stirrups and just smashes down

00:58:14.860 with his battle axe and just cleaves this

00:58:16.420 guy in half down to the down to the

00:58:18.680 trunk and he falls off his horse that's

00:58:20.540 the start of the battle so the English

00:58:21.640 like I'm not sure this is going to go

00:58:23.900 well so then there's just this absolute

00:58:26.080 demolition of the English army at

00:58:27.560 Bannockburn and the key Scottish

00:58:29.040 fortresses fall to Robert the Bruce

00:58:30.580 after that and that is a seen as

00:58:32.420 decisive moment it means that Scotland

00:58:34.120 will not be conquered by England

00:58:35.340 Scotland will remain as a separate

00:58:36.900 kingdom until you know they are joined

00:58:39.560 but it will be a political union rather

00:58:41.480 than an act of conquest so then we get the

00:58:44.220 14th century in the 1300s which is an

00:58:45.940 absolute nightmare because you get the

00:58:47.100 black death you get the plague which

00:58:48.840 kills around a third of the population

00:58:50.220 perhaps nearly half the population of

00:58:51.720 Britain you get the start of the hundred

00:58:53.700 years war when Edward the second son

00:58:56.440 who may be Edward the second son or he

00:58:58.660 may be somebody else's son he decides he

00:59:02.660 wants to be king of France various reasons

00:59:04.540 you get a hundred years war that lasts

00:59:05.740 more than a hundred years in which the

00:59:07.600 flower of English youth is hacking and

00:59:10.280 thrusting and bleeding out in the mud of

00:59:12.480 France so it's so it's a tumultuous time

00:59:15.460 and an English identity when I talk

00:59:17.020 about identity is really forged in that

00:59:19.180 period because you really start to see

00:59:20.520 Englishness as quite distinct from

00:59:22.000 Frenchness you start to see English

00:59:23.900 language being used by 1400 1415 in the

00:59:27.340 English language is being which had been

00:59:28.920 the language of peasants the language of

00:59:30.660 the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman courts the

00:59:32.600 Norwich clerics spoke Latin French you know

00:59:35.100 Norman French it's it's Henry V starts

00:59:37.400 using it in court documents so you so

00:59:39.180 suddenly hey we're I think we're

00:59:40.440 English now I think we're fighting the

00:59:42.200 French so that's an interesting moment

00:59:44.140 and then and then you then you get and

00:59:47.080 then well we can't skip sorry sorry sorry

00:59:49.480 we can't skip over the hundred year

00:59:50.960 war okay it's quite quite a long war yeah

00:59:52.960 so you mentioned one guy wants to be

00:59:55.960 king of France why does the war last

00:59:57.360 hundred years because neither side has

01:00:01.260 got the strength to win decisively it is

01:00:03.820 just two punch trunk boxers just going at

01:00:05.940 it take it they take some breaks they

01:00:07.360 take some breaks but but they they come

01:00:09.340 back swinging Edward III his mother is

01:00:12.060 the princess of France the French royal

01:00:13.580 family suffer an extinction level event

01:00:15.460 they've inherited father-son for

01:00:17.380 something like 12 generations I can't

01:00:19.060 remember but it's why it's called the

01:00:20.180 the Capetian miracle and it's one of the

01:00:22.440 reasons that France is the size it is

01:00:23.820 today because the French the French just

01:00:26.300 got had a very successful run of kings

01:00:27.760 and that really helps in the medieval

01:00:29.380 period then then that just all comes

01:00:31.620 to three brothers die in a row a baby

01:00:33.680 dies up the whole family just get wiped

01:00:35.360 out and Edward III goes he gets his

01:00:37.480 scrolls out he goes family treat he goes

01:00:39.140 lads I think I'm the closest living

01:00:41.120 descendant of the former French king

01:00:42.720 and they get the French go oh yes we've

01:00:44.800 got an interesting problem there's an

01:00:45.940 ancient law we've just discovered which

01:00:48.140 means you can't inherit through the

01:00:49.300 female lines sorry about that and so he

01:00:51.600 goes god damn it I'm gonna go to war

01:00:53.400 for this and he says that how he says

01:00:55.260 the house of Plantagenet of a better

01:00:56.380 claim the house of Valois and he fights

01:00:58.820 the head with the third fights quite

01:01:00.200 successfully they get almost the gates

01:01:02.420 of Paris then weirdly a massive hailstorm

01:01:04.460 smashes down and it's a monumental

01:01:07.240 climate disaster seems to kind of put

01:01:09.640 Edward III off a bit and he signs a bit

01:01:10.880 of a peace treaty but he gobbles up more

01:01:12.740 French land his son Edward the Black

01:01:14.940 Prince is a legend he captures more

01:01:16.800 land he goes on these rampages

01:01:18.320 rapinage and smashing across France he

01:01:21.680 wins these great battles people have had

01:01:23.000 we talk you know battle of Cressy

01:01:24.220 battle of Poitiers people be familiar

01:01:25.500 with and then Edward III and Edward III

01:01:28.320 Edward III and his son die very close to

01:01:30.000 each other and you get classic

01:01:31.240 Plantagenet situation you get Richard II

01:01:33.040 on throne is absolutely useless yeah

01:01:34.580 lovely chap apparently but just not

01:01:36.780 really up to them not the guy you want

01:01:38.840 if you're fighting a gigantic war in

01:01:41.620 France well what this is one of the

01:01:43.320 things I've always wanted to ask

01:01:44.340 historian as well say you are a very

01:01:46.760 nice guy and totally useless king and

01:01:48.820 you are embroiled in this war why don't

01:01:50.380 you just go you know what I can't be

01:01:52.020 arsed have some of this yeah I know I

01:01:55.120 learn no longer claim the crown of

01:01:57.140 France I we leave have Calais back we

01:01:59.980 don't care I'm coming home and I'm

01:02:01.780 gonna plant my well whatever and that's

01:02:04.620 pretty much what Richard II does so

01:02:06.000 there's a long break in the war and

01:02:07.540 Richard II does that now one of the

01:02:08.760 reasons you don't do that is if you're

01:02:09.800 if your status and legitimacy and vibe

01:02:13.300 depends on being a great military

01:02:15.340 commander which by this stage the

01:02:16.540 medieval it still sort of does a king

01:02:18.340 is first and foremost someone I think

01:02:19.860 who's a protector of the kingdom the

01:02:21.220 sword of state I think it's a little

01:02:23.120 bit embarrassing to that but I think

01:02:24.280 Richard II could have sort of pulled

01:02:25.960 that off but he makes mistakes at home

01:02:27.380 he alienates key people he alienates

01:02:29.400 his cousin importantly and he gets in

01:02:32.660 trouble with the Plantagenet family is

01:02:34.400 you know you think your family is

01:02:35.560 difficult I mean Plantagenet family is

01:02:37.080 all drama and Henry Bolingbroke his

01:02:40.080 cousin comes back invades England and

01:02:42.280 Richard II suffers a terrible

01:02:44.300 unfortunate accident shortly after that

01:02:46.020 which is really sad so he is deposed

01:02:49.640 Henry takes over to Henry IV and the

01:02:53.020 reason Henry IV then faces a massive

01:02:55.120 uprising in Wales he faces civil war in

01:02:56.840 England so he's then got to impose

01:02:58.000 himself on England he said that's a

01:02:59.560 hundred years war still and you know

01:03:00.760 in the in the chest freezer but his son

01:03:03.160 comes thrown in with the fifth who is an

01:03:05.240 absolute like a mentally impressive

01:03:09.800 warrior he's been commanding armies

01:03:11.560 since he was a teenager he is got shot in

01:03:14.660 the face with an arrow at the Battle of

01:03:15.820 Shrewsbury so he's like hideously

01:03:17.340 disfigured he is a just a total baller

01:03:21.760 and he his dad he and his dad pacify

01:03:25.040 England and Wales and he restarts

01:03:27.080 the hundred years war because he's

01:03:28.440 looking for a little bit of a mission

01:03:29.580 he's looking for he's he's on he's got

01:03:31.340 some momentum they've crushed their

01:03:33.100 internal enemies they're still a bit

01:03:34.960 uncertain on throwing the house of

01:03:36.080 Lancaster you know yes they're

01:03:37.120 Plantagenets but it's a bit naughty his

01:03:38.480 dad sort of took throne and there's a

01:03:39.900 couple of other older children who

01:03:41.200 probably have better claims and so he's

01:03:42.820 like I know what I'll do foreign

01:03:44.680 military adventure so he says actually

01:03:46.920 we've all forgotten about this thing but

01:03:48.160 we're still kings of France by the way so

01:03:49.660 he lands and he fights the Battle of

01:03:51.740 Agincourt 1415 people familiar with

01:03:53.620 absolutely rinses the French royal

01:03:56.760 dukes prince of the blood crushed to

01:03:58.580 death under the hooves of their own men

01:04:00.160 longbow bolts long long bow arrow heads

01:04:03.660 embedded in royal princes and dukes and

01:04:06.580 I mean it's an absolute just Henry V at

01:04:08.520 one point stands over his wounded

01:04:10.660 brother fighting hand to hand to protect

01:04:12.700 him as he gets up and goes to seek

01:04:14.240 medical attention extraordinary battle and

01:04:16.880 then after Agincourt he then goes a bit

01:04:19.200 but he comes back and he invades and

01:04:20.580 occupies much of northern France and he

01:04:22.780 achieves he gets his wish the French

01:04:25.660 king or the French French king's mad at

01:04:27.320 this point that the French elite promise

01:04:30.460 that he can be the success of the king

01:04:32.360 when the king dies Henry V will be the

01:04:34.260 king of France so we've done it lads we've

01:04:35.940 done it and then Henry V dies of

01:04:39.380 dysentery just before the king of France

01:04:41.620 weeks before the king of France did you

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01:05:42.540 first order do you know what's so

01:05:45.420 interesting listening to you listening to

01:05:47.520 you Dan is that when I listen to the

01:05:49.520 story of England I love history but I did

01:05:53.700 a degree in theatre so everything that I

01:05:56.300 know is filtered through the prism of

01:05:59.560 Shakespeare which is let's be fair as

01:06:02.880 well that's kind of propaganda isn't it

01:06:06.140 totally because for the money Henry V I

01:06:08.760 put once more into the breach dear friends

01:06:10.340 he probably never even said that

01:06:11.620 he almost certainly never said once

01:06:14.520 more into the breach in fact I'll tell

01:06:15.220 you exactly you never said that because

01:06:16.360 they didn't go into the breach of

01:06:17.420 Haarfleur the people of Haarfleur

01:06:19.120 surrendered because there was a rule

01:06:21.480 that if you if you get you get you

01:06:24.580 create a breach you blast your cannon

01:06:26.060 you create a breach in the wall you

01:06:27.700 then say hey lads people of Haarfleur

01:06:29.580 you got two choices surrender now and

01:06:32.880 you will be okay we'll take some stuff

01:06:35.780 but it'll be organized transition of power

01:06:37.640 or we send the lads through that breach

01:06:40.120 and I'm not going to be responsible for

01:06:41.760 what happens when they're attacking

01:06:43.600 their blood is up and they're attacking

01:06:44.960 through the narrow streets of your town

01:06:46.340 your wine cellars and your daughters

01:06:48.800 and your treasure boxes are going to be

01:06:52.900 up for grabs and so the people of Haarfleur

01:06:54.680 went we're done we're done we'll take

01:06:56.320 that deal so they didn't storm the breach

01:06:58.160 so no I mean Shakespeare's wonderful

01:07:00.080 propaganda like Braveheart you know

01:07:01.520 it's you know it's it's stimulating

01:07:02.940 nonsense but inspired by these great

01:07:06.640 stories from our past

01:07:07.660 I wouldn't go to Scotland for a few

01:07:10.380 years after that

01:07:11.200 so Henry V doesn't wash his goddamn

01:07:13.280 hands and and dies of dysentery

01:07:16.660 he the French king dies very shortly

01:07:20.440 after so Henry V would have had his

01:07:21.680 moment one of the great warrior kings

01:07:23.040 of medieval history I mean who knows

01:07:24.160 what he could have done he could have

01:07:24.840 done Alexander the Great he'd have kept

01:07:26.000 going who knows we don't know great

01:07:27.420 turning point of history and he leaves

01:07:29.580 his baby son on the throne who's a a

01:07:32.280 baby Henry VI and b turns out to be

01:07:34.860 absolutely bloody useless as well

01:07:36.320 actually very nice guy to your point

01:07:38.440 we think Richard II and Henry's

01:07:39.740 probably quite nice chaps but Henry VI

01:07:41.840 poor really genuinely poor thing a

01:07:44.200 ineffective be very very nice and c

01:07:47.480 suffered from a declining mental and

01:07:49.840 physical health that saw him have

01:07:51.060 fundamental mental breakdowns through

01:07:53.420 through the later in his career and

01:07:55.060 became sort of catatonic at times I

01:07:56.740 mean very sad just not the man you

01:07:59.340 need at this critical point and so

01:08:01.400 you've got a situation where Henry

01:08:02.500 V's brothers are sort of regents

01:08:03.980 they're sure they're trying to keep

01:08:05.160 France together the French like oh

01:08:06.540 yeah you know our deal with Henry

01:08:07.720 V well he's dead now so we don't

01:08:09.020 really so we've got the the French

01:08:10.600 are saying no no we think actually

01:08:11.800 this guy Charles should be king of

01:08:12.780 France and the Brits the English

01:08:14.180 thing no no remember our little baby

01:08:15.840 is king of France this little baby

01:08:17.400 playing in nanny skirts not a great

01:08:20.060 not a great sell and then who joins the

01:08:23.520 chat Joan of Arc this peasant girl

01:08:26.540 teenage it can't read from the very

01:08:31.260 fringes of the French kingdom arrives

01:08:33.920 at the French court and go hi I've got

01:08:35.220 a very strange message for you I've

01:08:36.360 been sent by God to read it and read

01:08:37.880 this country of the English

01:08:38.820 historian wants to describe to me if

01:08:41.600 it wasn't very well a testament it is

01:08:43.080 very tested we have the court documents

01:08:44.500 are trial if it wasn't well tested

01:08:46.520 there was no way you'd believe this

01:08:47.800 happened it's like a script out of

01:08:49.020 Hollywood and she leads the French

01:08:50.760 army who are on the back foot they are

01:08:52.740 nowhere she needs French army she

01:08:54.580 delivers victory after victory I must

01:08:56.720 pause you there because among other

01:08:59.600 miracles this is medieval France and

01:09:03.220 you just kind of skipped over the fact

01:09:04.720 you've got this peasant girl leading an

01:09:06.440 army like it's bonkers what well I

01:09:08.280 agree what and I've looked into this

01:09:09.480 quite carefully I don't understand

01:09:10.500 there is I think initially they

01:09:13.380 thought that and there is a

01:09:14.720 tradition of this that she'd be kind

01:09:15.860 of useful mascot that you know that

01:09:17.300 idea of you you send with the army

01:09:19.120 someone who seems to be like touched

01:09:20.140 by God and they might be speaking in

01:09:21.920 tongues they might be a bit weird but

01:09:23.520 they spit prophecies and it's a bit of

01:09:25.840 a tradition of nobleman going look at

01:09:27.460 this strange peasant girl who I've

01:09:29.380 just found who says that I should be

01:09:30.680 the Duke of Alonso you know so there

01:09:32.520 is a little it doesn't come from

01:09:33.700 nowhere but what's interesting about

01:09:35.620 her she arrives everyone thinks well

01:09:36.980 okay let's sort of take her along with

01:09:39.340 us but she goes great I'm in charge and

01:09:41.900 she does appear to exercise a kind of

01:09:45.360 operational control actually over this

01:09:47.660 really yeah so she she is so

01:09:49.960 charismatic and so driven that she

01:09:51.680 appears to sort of win over these

01:09:52.980 veteran commanders and she goes

01:09:54.120 tomorrow we're going to go and attack

01:09:55.440 that fortress and the French like no

01:09:56.700 you're mad we've tried for ages won't

01:09:58.020 work she goes we're gonna we're gonna

01:09:58.980 do it and then and then because that's

01:10:01.660 how medieval battles work she just

01:10:03.080 plows in this teenage girl plowing in

01:10:05.040 she's wounded and she sort of she

01:10:07.080 stands up and she goes I'm not

01:10:08.740 leaving these the front line until we

01:10:10.280 scale this wall you know she's she's

01:10:12.120 charismatic visible leadership and I

01:10:14.180 think lots of time in battle

01:10:15.280 particularly these kind of battles

01:10:16.360 it's it's belief the men the men surge

01:10:19.620 forward and if you're clinging to that

01:10:22.200 parapet if you're climbing that ladder

01:10:23.780 and there's an Englishman at the top

01:10:25.060 and you've got your shield race I think

01:10:27.640 it's a game of inches like any given

01:10:28.900 Sunday yeah and if that if that final

01:10:30.840 inch is that little bit more belief you

01:10:32.260 just get your hands on that parapet and

01:10:33.740 you you may hoist you over and then you're

01:10:35.580 the first man up if you just think our

01:10:38.080 leaders are crap and you're slightly

01:10:39.880 looking behind you then that's the

01:10:41.460 difference I think in the moments and

01:10:42.900 and the difference between victory and

01:10:44.400 defeat in these moments is that first

01:10:46.020 guy atop the battlements the ramparts

01:10:47.960 that first like virus entering the

01:10:50.600 enemy body and then that that you you

01:10:52.820 then you get two up there you've got a

01:10:54.020 little shield wall and you can

01:10:55.100 reinforce that and then suddenly

01:10:56.420 dominoes start falling and then that

01:10:58.260 belief starts to increase it develops

01:11:01.060 this snowball like momentum and that's

01:11:03.300 what she does that's what she does and

01:11:05.300 she just she just drives the English

01:11:07.200 on the creek sways this territory and

01:11:09.420 she is eventually captured and burned

01:11:11.480 but by that stage the French on the on

01:11:13.280 the front foot and Henry the sixth so

01:11:15.080 he's completely unable to hold on to

01:11:17.200 his lands in France like King John

01:11:18.400 before him so and that and that's a

01:11:19.660 kind of brutal body blow to his

01:11:21.540 reputation his respect he's a sort of

01:11:23.660 gentle nice guy found at Eton College

01:11:25.980 you know so he sort of and and and

01:11:28.860 eventually his sort of super masculine

01:11:30.580 cousins just kick the shit out of him

01:11:32.700 you know eventually there's a sort of

01:11:34.080 inevitably there's a fight at court

01:11:35.920 we'd like to be your advisor we think

01:11:37.820 you're getting bad advice from that

01:11:39.100 dickhead over there and so these kind

01:11:41.020 over mighty factions start jostling for

01:11:43.580 power there's a vacuum around the

01:11:44.800 king now if you're Edward the first

01:11:46.140 Henry the fifth you'd be like I'm in

01:11:47.200 charge you can get back in your box

01:11:48.500 mate but if you're Henry the sixth

01:11:49.820 well I was just listening to advice

01:11:51.160 from him and Somerset but now maybe

01:11:52.600 I'm the Duke of York saying I should

01:11:53.780 and you get and then of course blood

01:11:56.820 begets blood you know there's a a

01:11:58.820 little scrap and the and you've

01:12:00.880 killed brothers cousins of this duke

01:12:03.540 of that duke and it becomes a it

01:12:05.100 becomes blood life it becomes this

01:12:06.780 savage and you get a war you get

01:12:08.240 wars the roses you get a civil war in

01:12:09.800 England in families fighting families

01:12:12.360 between these the duke between Henry

01:12:14.720 the sixth the house of Lancaster the

01:12:16.520 king and his and his cousin the Duke

01:12:18.680 of York so back you know this from

01:12:21.140 Shakespeare yeah back to Shakespeare

01:12:22.800 was Richard the third was he all bad

01:12:26.400 did he have a hunchback did he murdered

01:12:28.320 the twins okay this is I'm this is

01:12:30.920 going to get me this is the bit I'm

01:12:32.060 nervous about getting me cancelled

01:12:32.940 because the Richard the third stands

01:12:35.600 are busy out there and they're on the

01:12:37.540 internet let me tell you so Henry the

01:12:42.280 sixth has the great misfortune to come

01:12:45.560 up against another superhero warrior

01:12:47.440 king of English medieval history which

01:12:48.880 is a cousin Edward the fourth age 18

01:12:50.880 beautiful looking guy apps six foot

01:12:54.980 four age 18 wins the bloodiest battle in

01:12:58.320 the history of England to that point we

01:12:59.660 think the battle of Towson in Yorkshire

01:13:01.420 he leads his army in the front rank he's

01:13:04.320 just hoeing down men left and center

01:13:06.420 Henry the sixth not there not there no

01:13:08.920 he's not gonna be on the battlefield at

01:13:10.620 one stage he's injured during a battle

01:13:11.940 he's under a tree sort of contemplating

01:13:13.640 nature so again sounds like a nice guy

01:13:15.740 but unfortunately up against your cousin

01:13:17.660 the future Edward the fourth and he

01:13:20.400 there's a lot of back and forward but

01:13:21.820 eventually Henry the sixth is killed in

01:13:23.800 the Tower of London where he's imprisoned

01:13:25.340 although his enemies said that he died of

01:13:28.100 melancholy so and so Edward the fourth

01:13:32.620 gets the throne he goes to see takes the

01:13:35.020 just starts chasing girls all day he

01:13:36.660 starts drinking falls apart anyway and

01:13:39.260 dies and his little brother Richard the

01:13:41.440 third takes over rather than those

01:13:43.140 prince in the Tower the princes are the

01:13:44.940 two sons of Edward the fourth we'd I mean

01:13:48.000 I'm my gut people at the time thought it

01:13:52.540 was likely that Richard had killed his

01:13:54.480 his nephews or made them disappear and

01:13:56.960 it's funny though that we we uniquely think

01:13:58.620 about which because of Shakespeare King

01:14:00.140 John killed his nephew killed Arthur of

01:14:02.500 Brittany you know like it's there was it

01:14:03.900 was a thing but it was not unprecedented

01:14:05.400 but anyway they disappear Richard the

01:14:07.260 third takes the throne but in the end

01:14:09.420 someone who had the flimsiest claim to

01:14:12.900 the throne you've ever seen guy called

01:14:14.080 Henry Tudor Henry the seventh arrives

01:14:15.480 awkwardly French backing French money

01:14:18.340 sails from France to Wales but that

01:14:22.840 builds an army gathers an army around him

01:14:25.040 fights Richard the third one particular

01:14:27.960 family in particular of nobles stand on

01:14:30.120 the sidelines till the last minute and

01:14:32.000 then decide which sides to back and

01:14:34.860 then they like then they charge in on

01:14:36.720 Henry this on Henry Tudor's side they

01:14:38.900 become the elves of Derby still very

01:14:41.040 rich powerful landowners to this day as

01:14:43.120 a result of their decision made at that

01:14:44.260 battle and and Richard the third is

01:14:46.560 destroyed so then you got the Tudors

01:14:48.320 went to the truth Henry the seventh we

01:14:49.800 were the Tudors right okay so before we

01:14:52.220 get into the Tudors my horse my horse a

01:14:54.120 kingdom battle of Bosworth yes

01:14:56.680 do you go into that a little bit and

01:14:59.340 was that true so Richard I can't

01:15:01.240 remember if that's true actually I

01:15:02.400 should know that this entire episode

01:15:03.800 is just devolved into fact

01:15:05.020 Richard the third does there is he

01:15:08.980 does fight I cannot remember I know I

01:15:11.000 don't think he does ask for I can't I

01:15:12.760 don't think he asked Ross because I

01:15:14.240 think he actually at the end fights

01:15:15.880 pretty bravely so he's not the kind of

01:15:17.800 crooked like utter villain as

01:15:20.520 portrayed by Shakespeare no way okay but

01:15:23.240 and I think actually in the end he does

01:15:24.840 fight and die like a king of England

01:15:27.140 so we get to the Tudors and does this

01:15:29.600 obviously it's just a different family

01:15:31.800 but does this signal some kind of big

01:15:33.520 shift in the culture and history of

01:15:35.200 Britain or is it more of the same

01:15:36.540 that's a very good question the Tudors

01:15:38.940 didn't think of that Henry the eighth

01:15:40.440 would have thought to himself as kind

01:15:41.660 of from the Plantagenet line like

01:15:43.500 nothing to see here we're all descended

01:15:45.080 from you know it's fine

01:15:46.200 uh in no I think look the world starts

01:15:51.980 we're entering this we're entering this

01:15:54.020 modern period what this mad ride that

01:15:56.000 we're on now this starts changing the

01:15:57.260 printing press has been discovered uh the

01:16:00.400 the rest of the world has been

01:16:01.700 discovered you know Britain this is one

01:16:03.040 in fact for me this might this is the

01:16:04.660 bit that I'm interested in really to

01:16:06.020 we go from being this kind of outlying

01:16:08.200 rock on the edge of Christendom that's

01:16:09.940 played no super significant part in the

01:16:12.280 story of Eurasia to that point well

01:16:14.960 suddenly if you look at a map you go

01:16:16.260 at maps we're on the edge of maps and

01:16:17.800 medieval maps you look at maps in the

01:16:19.560 16th century late Tudor period we're in

01:16:22.100 the middle as we should be well as we

01:16:24.220 should be because the new world has

01:16:27.080 been discovered by Europeans hold on

01:16:28.780 when this is a good this is where we

01:16:30.500 have a sense now of this world and it

01:16:32.820 turns out we're bang in the middle

01:16:34.880 we're we're a pretty we're an axis we're

01:16:36.640 in a crucible we're in a great place

01:16:37.960 we're at a crossroads and so that's

01:16:40.020 happening so Henry VIII's reign is so

01:16:42.160 interesting people know about the wise but

01:16:43.640 Henry VIII's reign is so interesting for me

01:16:44.920 because he starts with he's trying to

01:16:46.140 emulate Richard Henry V he's like putting

01:16:48.160 on his armor and going to France and

01:16:49.400 trying to fight but he calls himself the

01:16:50.680 king of France but that comes to an end

01:16:52.880 quite quickly and what's going on is

01:16:55.100 that meanwhile people in Devon and

01:16:58.080 Bristol and Cornwall like there's

01:17:00.820 something they mate there's bigger fish to

01:17:02.120 fry now we're going west we're going

01:17:04.660 west we're going down to Africa we're

01:17:06.740 going across we're enslaving people in

01:17:09.160 Africa we're going to the new world

01:17:10.440 we're getting sugar we're getting raw

01:17:11.900 materials we're getting spices we're

01:17:13.820 going to follow the Portuguese we're

01:17:14.940 going to be around the bottom of Africa

01:17:16.380 we're going to Asia we're going to

01:17:18.020 access the trading emporium that is the

01:17:21.200 Indian Ocean the South China Sea so it's

01:17:24.020 all this that we're now and now I think

01:17:26.420 look human beings have been on a ski

01:17:29.220 jump since the invention the smelting of

01:17:31.780 bronze you know the invention of bronze

01:17:33.240 and you know five-ish thousand years ago

01:17:37.080 but ever you know from there to a drone

01:17:39.380 on Mars is not that long in terms of our

01:17:41.020 history but really from sort of 1500 from

01:17:42.920 the Tudors onwards then we're starting to

01:17:44.440 feel this kind of acceleration you know

01:17:46.320 and and and and everything really starts

01:17:50.000 to rapidly change you mentioned the words

01:17:52.800 rapid change and to me and to a lot of

01:17:56.080 people people see the time of Elizabeth

01:17:58.060 the third first as the golden age yeah

01:18:01.360 was that the golden age of Britain well

01:18:03.880 well Britain so yeah well I was in the

01:18:08.580 Tower of London just this morning and

01:18:09.680 the beef eaters to the Tower of London

01:18:10.920 they do their tours and they go and then

01:18:13.240 everyone that next came Elizabeth the

01:18:15.020 first like that and everyone's supposed

01:18:16.600 to go yay like that is the that's the

01:18:18.720 perception and I defer to no one in my

01:18:21.740 love of Elizabethan seafaring and the

01:18:23.740 kind of revolution that was going this

01:18:25.220 period in England spreading its gaze to

01:18:27.940 the horizons of Francis Drake the

01:18:30.040 extraordinary this maritime derision

01:18:31.740 that has begun under Henry VIII and

01:18:33.080 continued by Elizabeth but but at the

01:18:35.220 same time England is fighting an

01:18:37.920 unbelievably savage war of conquest in

01:18:40.280 Ireland at this point and so and it's

01:18:43.120 something you know we've there are in

01:18:45.240 there are huge battles taking place

01:18:47.180 now like really interesting big pitch

01:18:48.780 battles taking the Earl of Tyrone is

01:18:50.400 fighting Elizabethan army Elizabeth is

01:18:52.320 almost bankrupting the treasury trying

01:18:54.480 to trying to impose English rule on

01:18:57.080 Ireland so she is like obviously we

01:18:59.200 obviously it's a nuanced picture but in

01:19:01.460 England it's remembered partly because

01:19:03.740 of Shakespeare partly because of what

01:19:05.680 comes before and after you know before

01:19:07.840 we had sort of the Protestants of

01:19:10.720 dominant Whiggish telling of English

01:19:12.520 history is that you get met you get a

01:19:14.840 bit of instability get met you get

01:19:16.120 Edward the sixth rules briefly after

01:19:17.540 Henry VIII you get Queen Mary Protestant

01:19:21.000 martyrs Protestants are kind of burned

01:19:23.180 they become martyrs there is up there

01:19:25.300 are uprisings it's there's there's

01:19:27.340 instability there's instability there's

01:19:28.400 instability in Henry VIII you get the

01:19:29.720 pilgrimage greats get the Reformation

01:19:30.880 this is tumultuous stuff and then the

01:19:32.640 17th century after Elizabeth you get

01:19:34.480 the probably bloodiest war in British

01:19:36.620 history British and Irish history per

01:19:38.060 capita including the First War so

01:19:39.900 you know relative to the population

01:19:41.480 which are the civil wars of the mid

01:19:42.880 17th century so Elizabeth is seen as a

01:19:45.280 period where there was art and you

01:19:48.040 know Shakespeare and other poets and

01:19:50.980 England taking these baby steps out to

01:19:55.120 establishing this empire that until

01:19:57.300 you know recently where scholarship and

01:19:59.140 historiography is changed was regarded

01:20:00.660 as this untrammeled good for the world

01:20:02.320 you know the British Empire is this

01:20:03.360 fantastic thing so what school kids

01:20:05.040 were taught and and people have seen

01:20:07.220 the genesis that need to be made which

01:20:08.740 is partly true you know so that is when

01:20:10.880 England's first colonies are sent out

01:20:13.140 Francis Drake circumnavigates the world

01:20:14.900 you know they the Spanish Armada is

01:20:16.440 defeated you know one of the epic stories

01:20:18.080 of English history and so yes that's why

01:20:20.480 it's seen as this kind of this can be seen

01:20:22.200 as a kind of golden age yeah let's come back

01:20:24.080 to the age of exploration because this

01:20:26.040 is a fascinating thing to me in on many

01:20:28.540 different levels of course but one of

01:20:29.920 them is if you said to me now Constance

01:20:33.000 you know what you can do you can go

01:20:34.340 halfway across the world to these

01:20:35.720 unknown lands filled with I'm using in

01:20:38.080 the inverted commas because it's

01:20:39.340 politically incorrect now but this is

01:20:40.800 how people would have seen it by

01:20:42.020 savages who will probably stick an

01:20:44.240 arrow through your throat for landing on

01:20:45.680 their on their turf and you'll probably

01:20:49.000 die of diseases you've never experienced

01:20:50.360 and blah blah blah like that's not an

01:20:52.160 appealing vision for me so what is it

01:20:55.100 about this period that people are so

01:20:57.680 willing I mean travel halfway across the

01:21:00.100 world on rickety boats into oceans

01:21:01.660 unexplored I cannot even begin to agree

01:21:05.020 the the stories of the Portuguese and

01:21:07.600 English exploration are astonishing the

01:21:10.480 hardships they enjoyed the teeth falling

01:21:11.960 out from scurvy when you get scurvy old

01:21:13.720 wounds open up your teeth fall out and

01:21:16.000 then so if you have a scar from a child

01:21:17.580 you know previous battle 20 years before

01:21:19.540 whatever it might be they will just

01:21:20.980 spontaneously open you'll start bleeding

01:21:22.860 from these scurvy is one of the most

01:21:25.240 horrific things obviously didn't not

01:21:26.680 enough vitamin C in your diet they had

01:21:27.840 no way of taking source of vitamin C

01:21:29.960 with them fresh fruit and vegetables on

01:21:31.340 these long sea journeys so they were

01:21:34.360 horrific that the conditions I love

01:21:36.700 sailing and I would not get in the

01:21:38.460 golden hind that little old ship that

01:21:39.840 people can still go and look at the

01:21:40.700 replica in London day and think I'm

01:21:42.200 gonna sit around the world in that thing

01:21:43.360 you're only kidding I think it's a

01:21:45.500 product I think it's a store I think

01:21:47.000 it's I think it's look this is also

01:21:48.860 we might come to this why did young men

01:21:50.460 go over the top in the trenches of

01:21:51.780 world war one the whistle blew and nearly

01:21:54.060 all of them nearly 99.9% they climbed

01:21:57.560 those ladders they marched over no man's

01:21:58.980 I think part of it is young men you know

01:22:02.000 we know the bits of the brain aren't

01:22:03.520 fully full yeah I think I genuinely I

01:22:05.140 think if you're a teenager you're in a

01:22:06.520 rural setting you're a younger son you

01:22:09.180 have a life of subsistence farming you you

01:22:11.460 have a life where your ambition your

01:22:12.800 older brothers can inherit what property

01:22:14.360 there might be you go and you want to

01:22:17.120 someone you might have a career in the

01:22:18.360 church you think actually I'm gonna

01:22:21.540 roll the dice adventure adventure why do

01:22:24.200 we buy lottery tickets why we all all

01:22:26.640 those 18 year old boys at the song they

01:22:28.440 thought they were good they knew that

01:22:29.660 there might be 50% casualties but they

01:22:31.480 all assume that they'd be in the 50% that

01:22:33.480 you know that didn't that made it and I

01:22:36.320 think that they're just there are always

01:22:37.780 willing recruits to these kind of

01:22:39.400 incorrect because because and also dead

01:22:41.740 men tell no tells who's coming back the

01:22:43.360 guys going you know I don't believe

01:22:45.440 this I got this awesome swag you know

01:22:48.140 I I'm rich I'm it's it's who's on who's

01:22:51.800 on the social medias right it's it's the

01:22:53.620 people that have won it's and and the

01:22:56.160 guys who have been in shallow graves

01:22:58.780 they've been hacked to pieces in

01:23:00.000 southern Africa after months of

01:23:02.020 malnourishment you know those guys are

01:23:04.300 not coming home telling the story so it

01:23:06.100 is a really interesting point but I get

01:23:08.320 you you oh and I should also say

01:23:10.180 actually it was always quite hard it

01:23:11.580 was hard to find recruits like it wasn't

01:23:13.780 easy it was it was sometimes easy to

01:23:16.380 find kind of gentleman recruits because

01:23:17.900 they they are there to say there might

01:23:19.160 be this impetus for they want that

01:23:20.860 they're sort of middling rank and they

01:23:22.400 want that more stage like Francis

01:23:23.740 Drake he's a but it was quite hard to

01:23:26.460 convince sailors like oh what do you do

01:23:28.220 I sail I go and fish off the Grand

01:23:29.640 Banks or I go down to Basque Country we

01:23:31.480 have a regular I take Cornish tin down

01:23:33.020 to Basque well do you want to come to

01:23:34.420 India and actually no I don't man so so

01:23:36.940 Francis Drake had to trick on his trip

01:23:40.080 around the world he just they all

01:23:41.280 thought they're going to the eastern

01:23:41.880 Mediterranean he that was they go past

01:23:43.580 Morocco the lads are like what's going

01:23:46.660 on here mate yeah and and he goes well

01:23:48.760 we're going to South America and beyond

01:23:51.440 they were like right yeah well this is

01:23:53.900 before we carry on with with the

01:23:55.440 chronological history which is

01:23:56.780 fascinating Dan and by the way just just

01:23:58.400 to say I love the way you bring this

01:23:59.840 stuff to life it's just fantastic so I'm

01:24:02.000 so glad we've got you here one thing I

01:24:04.500 was watching a documentary about the

01:24:05.980 history of England which starts at

01:24:07.060 Stonehenge and you were talking to one

01:24:09.360 of the experts the local people there

01:24:11.260 who works there I think it was a woman

01:24:13.400 and you're standing in among these

01:24:16.040 giant stones that had to be transported

01:24:18.760 in some way we might not even know and

01:24:20.440 then erected in some way we can't even

01:24:22.280 imagine at this point and and she sort

01:24:25.240 of said something as a casual comment

01:24:26.960 you know well you gotta you gotta

01:24:28.060 understand these people were just like

01:24:29.440 us and I know she didn't mean in every

01:24:31.960 way but this idea doesn't make any

01:24:35.260 sense to me whatsoever like if you said

01:24:37.440 to the people of Britain today what

01:24:38.840 we're gonna do is spend a quarter of

01:24:40.360 our national GDP on erecting some giant

01:24:43.560 monument to to the gods or to or to God

01:24:47.280 or to Jesus even they're all you yeah

01:24:50.420 you're mental mate we've got the NHS to

01:24:52.540 do with the taxes are too high you know

01:24:55.000 we need welfare spending like what are

01:24:56.720 you talking about yeah no that's a

01:24:57.920 really and so so the thing I always

01:24:59.440 think about is I don't think we were the

01:25:02.420 same we are the same people and I think

01:25:04.140 the culture and the mentality of the

01:25:05.780 people through these different phases

01:25:07.140 that we're talking about must have been

01:25:09.200 profoundly different to the way that we

01:25:11.180 see the world I think that's a really

01:25:12.400 perceptive and I think as a historian you

01:25:14.480 find yourself sometimes being so

01:25:16.380 struck by similarities you know when you're

01:25:18.780 when you're at Pompeii that day I was at

01:25:20.060 Pompeii and they were they were on they

01:25:21.660 were excavating when I was there and

01:25:22.900 there are little child charcoal drawings

01:25:25.360 of gladiator figures and and and and these so

01:25:29.840 these could have been drawn because you

01:25:32.340 know rain would have washed them off they

01:25:33.340 could have been drawn days hours before

01:25:35.360 the eruption of Vesuvius and you and that

01:25:37.620 just touch you think there's kids here

01:25:39.080 with their charcoal drawing doing what

01:25:40.400 kids do and there's these moments

01:25:41.660 domestically like that and then there's

01:25:43.740 these moments when you read about the

01:25:45.440 absolute sorrow that was endured for

01:25:47.360 example by Edward III when he lost his

01:25:48.900 daughter to the Black Death and he's and

01:25:50.740 you think god that's very relatable and

01:25:52.380 then you're right there's other times

01:25:53.540 you're like I mean erecting Stonehenge

01:25:56.560 being a concentration camp guard you know that

01:25:58.920 you think that okay this is this is so I

01:26:01.420 find myself you find yourself asking that

01:26:03.540 question again and again like what is

01:26:05.260 what is essential to our humanity what is

01:26:07.260 very different and yeah belief systems

01:26:09.420 did these people genuinely believe when

01:26:11.620 they're going into battle genuinely they

01:26:13.440 they were hungering for death because they

01:26:15.280 thought there was a better life afterwards

01:26:16.420 you know that kind of thing I you know

01:26:18.420 and I I've I I actually flip around on

01:26:21.420 that quite a lot because you read a source

01:26:23.000 like okay you know how far this is this

01:26:25.700 feels right and then you read something

01:26:27.060 and going wow okay no that is that's

01:26:29.960 very very relatable to us that feels

01:26:31.680 very similar because I have noticed that

01:26:33.100 in the way that you talk about it you

01:26:34.900 often related what I previously understood

01:26:37.660 as spiritual or cultural transitions you

01:26:42.840 kind of put it into more pragmatic

01:26:44.520 practical terms that's interesting I

01:26:45.980 want that's my own bias I wonder if that's

01:26:47.860 right I wonder if I'm I'm under look we

01:26:50.220 all when you talked about the spread of

01:26:51.660 Christianity for example and you go well

01:26:53.940 you know they had these monks who could

01:26:55.220 read who could collect taxes that's a good

01:26:57.100 point and but I wonder you know I I think

01:26:59.940 about the Aztecs for example right or

01:27:02.900 people in there would have been people

01:27:04.400 throughout history who sacrificed their

01:27:05.940 own children to the gods in certain

01:27:07.460 contexts and you go I don't think these

01:27:09.780 people saw the world the way I do yeah I

01:27:11.660 just don't the Aztecs human sacrifice is

01:27:14.520 I incur human sacrifice is a great example

01:27:16.440 of that yeah you'd give up they gave up

01:27:17.840 the best well again we don't know but the

01:27:19.860 suggestion is that aristocratic families

01:27:21.800 would be happy to give I mean I

01:27:23.660 personally now would have been like no I

01:27:25.740 think my child's got a few blemishes

01:27:26.920 beautiful or the Spartans right or your

01:27:30.480 child's imperfectly let's throw them in

01:27:32.020 the room I agree I look I think that's

01:27:34.000 right I think following Karl Marx we we

01:27:36.920 talk more about the economic drivers for

01:27:38.660 these things we're all sort of when it

01:27:39.980 comes to history we're all kind of we're

01:27:41.280 influenced by that Marxist school so we

01:27:42.900 go well I mean it's the rise of the

01:27:44.080 middle class in it whereas previous but

01:27:46.340 previous historical traditions really

01:27:50.360 talk more about the great man you know

01:27:52.000 this ability and and actually I again I

01:27:53.980 find myself just sort of torn and

01:27:55.580 shambolically moving between all these

01:27:57.300 because I think there are examples in

01:27:58.460 history of individuals who can absolutely

01:28:00.640 galvanize and take things off into a

01:28:02.600 different direction that they would

01:28:03.620 otherwise previously not gone in but

01:28:05.180 there are also examples clearly where

01:28:06.840 the fact that British government is able

01:28:08.460 to borrow at lower rates of interest in

01:28:10.120 the 18th century means they tend to win

01:28:11.560 the wars against France even though they

01:28:13.600 had like your Nelsons and your Wolves and

01:28:15.060 you know so so I'm I you know you have to

01:28:17.800 try and think of all these things I think

01:28:19.500 you're right about Christianity Christianity

01:28:20.760 is obviously is is a very powerful and

01:28:26.020 compelling and message one of personal

01:28:29.380 salvation and love but but but it's also

01:28:32.520 attended in this period by all sorts of

01:28:34.640 practical real world advantages as well so

01:28:37.480 I think it's probably a mix of everything

01:28:39.000 but you're right that's interesting it's

01:28:40.140 good to pick me up on so we have the

01:28:42.300 Elizabethan age yeah and this age of

01:28:45.440 exploration this age of cultural explosion

01:28:48.680 in in the home country the war in

01:28:51.600 Ireland what came after that well what

01:28:53.780 comes after that is all the things that

01:28:55.240 Elizabeth she does the key thing you do

01:28:57.440 when you're a great ruler you live for a

01:28:58.960 long time I mean I cannot tell you how

01:29:00.920 important that is to your reputation and

01:29:02.520 you because ultimately you get to a point

01:29:04.300 where no one can imagine you not being a

01:29:06.080 ruler Louis XIV Ramesses Queen Elizabeth

01:29:10.260 the first Queen Elizabeth the second Queen

01:29:12.260 Elizabeth the second yeah and so actually

01:29:14.580 you that legit that sort of it does tend

01:29:16.900 to sort of put a little bit of a dampener

01:29:19.560 on opposition because people go well it's

01:29:21.760 the old Queen and I mean yeah we've and so

01:29:24.260 what happens after is many problems that

01:29:26.200 were unresolved in Elizabeth's reign that

01:29:28.120 she had managed to kind of keep just about

01:29:30.420 what played whack-a-mole with so this

01:29:32.480 gigantic religious schism religious

01:29:34.440 intolerance that is being the counter

01:29:36.040 the reformation the counter-reformation

01:29:37.740 Europe monstrous violence and sort of

01:29:40.300 pogroms going on against people who

01:29:41.820 that was my slightly different

01:29:43.720 interpretations of the scriptures than

01:29:45.160 you that sort of blows up in the 17th

01:29:48.720 century in England England gets sort of

01:29:50.900 sucked into this pan-European schism

01:29:53.360 between Protestantism and Catholicism and

01:29:55.400 resurgent Catholicism different types of

01:29:57.100 Protestisms all going out at each other

01:29:58.920 and imperial rivalries because you

01:30:02.000 suddenly go the you know hang on a

01:30:03.320 minute this that everyone's trying to

01:30:04.740 grab this get onto this kind of money

01:30:06.180 train and this trades you're fighting at

01:30:07.880 sea you're fighting and and it all just

01:30:10.220 devolves into this perfect storm and then

01:30:12.320 you get a kind of a king that can't cope

01:30:14.320 with it it lacks the political skill set

01:30:17.040 to deal with really challenging headwinds

01:30:18.720 that's Charles the first he insists on

01:30:20.840 sort of ruling as an absolute monarch he

01:30:22.720 just can't he his interpretation of

01:30:24.860 Christianity is different to many of his

01:30:26.360 kind of lairy subjects who want a more

01:30:28.460 Protestant sort of muscular Protestant

01:30:29.860 form of and by the way with that

01:30:31.780 interpretation of Protestantism comes as a

01:30:35.260 Protestant a I want different liturgical

01:30:37.380 things so to your point I'm spiritually

01:30:39.220 offended by what the king is doing in

01:30:40.900 terms of his new prayer book and things

01:30:41.960 but I'm also strategically offended by

01:30:44.460 the fact that he wants to make peace

01:30:45.780 with Spain Catholic Spain it Protestant

01:30:48.460 Englishman should do what Francis

01:30:49.720 Drake did it is the right thing for

01:30:51.120 Protestant we have now got Protestant

01:30:52.220 English identity which is taking the

01:30:54.700 fight to the Catholic powers of Europe

01:30:57.460 the absolute powers Europe and smashing

01:30:59.600 them up and taking their stuff right and

01:31:01.840 so that you get this kind of melding of

01:31:04.120 ideological religious and and by the way we

01:31:08.260 as sort of Protestants believe in the way

01:31:12.080 that we meet and reflect on on our faith

01:31:14.320 is also a way that we'd like to organize

01:31:16.020 our politics we want to come together in

01:31:17.780 the House of Commons we want to debate we

01:31:19.580 want to talk we do not want orders to be

01:31:23.120 handed out on high by the king like the

01:31:24.960 Catholic Church the Pope says this the

01:31:26.460 bishop says that right sort of and go and

01:31:28.120 do it we want we are Protestant so you see

01:31:30.760 this kind of really interesting and

01:31:32.060 complicated very very all of these

01:31:36.300 different sources of conflict feed into

01:31:38.640 this astonishingly complex war in the

01:31:41.220 middle of the 17th century on top of

01:31:44.860 which is this unfinished business of this

01:31:46.840 English conquest of Ireland and that has

01:31:48.480 now got a Protestant Catholic bent on it

01:31:50.880 as well because you're not just trying to

01:31:52.680 conquer Ireland as the English been doing

01:31:54.020 for a long time the Irish have said we

01:31:56.400 are we are not going to adopt the

01:31:57.900 Reformation so you know the English

01:31:59.600 conquerors are now not just an English

01:32:01.420 and Scottish conquerors now not only

01:32:02.860 foreign conquerors ring in Scotland

01:32:04.300 Britain they are now a different faith

01:32:06.360 so now you've got a really hard edge on

01:32:08.580 that conquest it's made it even worse so

01:32:10.340 you know you feel more justified in

01:32:12.480 sort of hurling Catholic Irish people off

01:32:14.040 the land you settle you put English

01:32:15.840 Protestant and Scottish Protestant

01:32:16.940 settlers on the land the plantation of

01:32:19.000 Ulster that the sort of the horrific

01:32:22.840 ethnic violence in Ireland this king in

01:32:27.460 England is seen to be a bit easy on the

01:32:29.080 Catholics so the people in England like

01:32:30.480 you're not being robust enough with

01:32:31.660 these Irish Catholics who are burning

01:32:33.400 and committing atrocities against these

01:32:35.560 Protestant settlers it all just builds to

01:32:38.960 this crescendo and you get an astonishing

01:32:41.080 war in which you last a long time the

01:32:45.320 various phases of it but which ultimately

01:32:47.220 ends with the destruction of the English

01:32:48.840 monarchy as a lord it's our revolution

01:32:50.920 and Cromwell this this commander this is

01:32:53.620 the great fascinating thing it's like it's

01:32:55.160 like wildflower seeds when you scour the

01:32:57.060 land and mash it all up and smash it all up

01:32:58.540 you get the beautiful wildflowers growing

01:33:00.320 up that you didn't know were there and

01:33:01.860 that's what I love about history in every

01:33:03.000 generation there is a Napoleon Bonaparte

01:33:04.920 there is a Stalin there is a Cromwell and

01:33:07.940 if you like there is somewhere out there

01:33:09.540 today there's an insurance salesman who is a

01:33:11.300 military genius but you never knew it and

01:33:14.160 he or she could given the right

01:33:15.960 circumstances given upheavals and

01:33:17.600 for men will be thrust into position of

01:33:19.900 command and and become a dictator that

01:33:22.300 will conquer England conquer Wales conquer

01:33:24.500 Scotland conquer Ireland the whole of the

01:33:27.200 British archipelago in a way Cromwell

01:33:28.980 ironically achieves the dream of the

01:33:30.520 Plantagenet his Plantagenet forebears on

01:33:32.660 the throne in all but name he conquers the

01:33:35.980 British and Irish Isles briefly there is

01:33:38.420 this kind of unitary state over it this

01:33:40.260 military dictatorship traditional

01:33:42.380 aristocracies are kind of thrown aside

01:33:44.060 it's military rule it's dictatorship and

01:33:47.060 it's a super army he goes and beats the

01:33:48.420 French the Spanish they go to Morocco

01:33:49.720 they go to North Africa and kick the

01:33:51.320 snot out and give us a little bit more

01:33:52.940 detail on him for anyone who is really

01:33:55.640 doesn't know anything about he is a

01:33:57.760 minor gentry so some lander he went to

01:34:00.740 Cambridge so he's a sort of educated guy

01:34:02.620 from East Anglia goes to Parliament is

01:34:06.120 religiously quite fundamental so he's a

01:34:07.940 sort of you'd say fundamental fundamentalist

01:34:10.620 Protestant doesn't believe in bishops

01:34:12.500 doesn't believe in kings doesn't believe in

01:34:14.120 in being told what to do is embrace this

01:34:16.580 idea that everyone has their own

01:34:17.760 individual communion with God you read the

01:34:20.360 scriptures and work out for yourself in

01:34:22.560 the Catholic faith like yeah there's

01:34:23.620 nothing for you to read that's all in

01:34:24.860 Latin don't worry about it we're just

01:34:26.600 going and the priest will tell you what

01:34:27.820 to do from the pulpit you know these

01:34:30.380 these people had prayer meetings they

01:34:32.200 gather they discuss they decide on how

01:34:35.180 best they felt their community should

01:34:37.060 adhere to the principles of

01:34:38.200 Christianity and stuff so so he's quite

01:34:39.880 a radical guy and then he but and he

01:34:43.180 leaves the throne to his son he's not

01:34:45.100 he's not crowned but he leaves the

01:34:46.460 bits of this dictatorship you skipped over

01:34:48.400 quite a bit how does he get to the throne

01:34:50.200 so he then he then raises troops like

01:34:52.420 everyone's like the civil war breaks out

01:34:53.920 and everyone's sort of raising like

01:34:55.020 troops and he gets a few lads together

01:34:56.480 from his area in East Anglia and it

01:34:58.220 turns out they're just really really

01:34:59.940 effective and so typically cavalry

01:35:02.280 commanders you you charge cavalry

01:35:03.860 but on your horses you smash the enemy

01:35:05.820 in front of you and you just keep

01:35:06.860 galloping you chase them away in one

01:35:08.660 to two you loot their camp you steal

01:35:11.000 their women and booze and you have a

01:35:12.440 great old time rather alarmingly like

01:35:14.940 the Mongols Oliver Cromwell would

01:35:16.440 charge charge charge smash the enemy

01:35:18.520 cavalry and then stop stop these

01:35:20.220 highly disciplined sort of non-drinking

01:35:23.060 you know quite sort of you know

01:35:25.420 strict prostitut guys might not been

01:35:27.620 the best night out with these chaps

01:35:28.780 they would stop and he would go and

01:35:31.300 they'd wheel round and attack someone

01:35:33.060 else so incredibly effective incredibly

01:35:35.780 effective he held on to these men with

01:35:37.460 an iron grip and he defeats the king

01:35:39.720 and the king's force in battles after

01:35:41.500 battle and there's various spasms of

01:35:44.460 resistance but eventually he does

01:35:45.580 conquer the whole and he commits

01:35:46.980 atrocities in Ireland famously and he

01:35:48.800 he but he conquers the whole of the

01:35:50.420 isles but this is the big problem

01:35:52.580 you have in revolutions one second

01:35:54.860 because I'd love you because I don't

01:35:57.160 think our American I think British

01:35:58.820 people might know this story he had

01:36:01.140 the king executed I think this story

01:36:03.020 is incredible the execution of Charles

01:36:05.420 the first very good point the first

01:36:07.080 judicial execution of a crowned head

01:36:09.340 we think in history and he eventually

01:36:12.480 they say well let's put Charles in

01:36:15.480 prison and then Charles escapes well

01:36:17.300 let's get Charles to sign up to this

01:36:18.560 deal saying obey himself and Charles

01:36:20.440 goes back on it and eventually Cromwell

01:36:23.260 purges people from he purges this

01:36:25.860 what happens in revolutions it's this

01:36:26.980 purges but you had the hardliners end up

01:36:28.860 in charge and parliament ends up full of

01:36:31.220 like pretty tough people and they vote

01:36:32.860 they say look ultimately this revolution

01:36:35.740 and and and us because we're the

01:36:38.440 vanguard of this revolution and if the

01:36:39.800 king gets in we're for the chop so it's

01:36:41.360 about personal safety when you think

01:36:42.720 about it right so so the revolution

01:36:44.600 the sort of this new political

01:36:46.100 settlement this new commonwealth this

01:36:47.980 new protestant sort of realm is not

01:36:50.960 safe because Charles Stewart will try

01:36:52.560 and reverse these reforms and we will

01:36:55.120 also absolutely knacker us if he gets

01:36:57.600 chance well so eventually they decide

01:36:59.040 they're going to put him on trial for

01:37:00.300 treason and there's a trial in

01:37:02.380 Westminster Hall which is still there

01:37:03.700 and Charles says I don't recognize the

01:37:05.700 right of this court to try me I don't

01:37:06.880 know what you're on about he does a bit

01:37:07.700 of a slobber down Milosevic you

01:37:08.800 remember that and then he is condemned

01:37:11.440 to death and he says goodbye to his

01:37:12.900 children he walks out of Whitehall

01:37:14.320 Bankinghall that's still there

01:37:15.680 Whitehall Palace Bankinghall still there

01:37:17.300 and there's a scaffold built in front of

01:37:18.720 it and he wears it's January day and he

01:37:20.240 wears two shirts he doesn't want to

01:37:21.760 shiver he doesn't want to make it

01:37:22.640 like he's scared and he puts his head

01:37:24.680 on the block and he dies well and they

01:37:27.840 chop his head off and that is just a

01:37:31.140 huge moment and it's a huge moment

01:37:32.540 ripples across Europe ripples around

01:37:34.320 the world and there is that a huge

01:37:36.660 moment because that because an

01:37:38.020 anointed the king the king is but it

01:37:39.900 was widely believed the king is the

01:37:41.180 anointed representative of God on

01:37:43.540 earth and when you say it's a huge

01:37:45.760 moment is it because people go oh wait

01:37:48.300 kings are not the anointed

01:37:49.400 representatives or is it because they

01:37:51.460 go oh God they've killed the

01:37:53.080 representative God which one both I

01:37:55.140 think in a way you're absolutely right

01:37:56.340 and that's a good point I think

01:37:57.340 there's two separate political

01:37:58.980 traditions grow up at this point

01:38:00.780 which roughly morph into the Whig

01:38:04.660 party and the Tory party actually as

01:38:06.160 well which we'll come on to at which

01:38:07.920 are the Liberal Party and the

01:38:08.900 Conservative Party you know these two

01:38:10.080 greats of political traditions in

01:38:11.220 England but elsewhere which is one

01:38:13.460 side once I go okay just it's just a

01:38:15.700 guy so we can and we should chop and

01:38:18.200 change the guy if the guy is not

01:38:20.180 delivering for us and the people and

01:38:22.240 the other side go this is this is you

01:38:25.620 know blasphemous it is a disaster we the

01:38:28.900 more conservative telling would be we

01:38:30.460 we have to find ways to avoid chopping

01:38:34.500 heads off kings and in a way the years

01:38:36.500 that follow because yes there's a

01:38:38.560 religious dimension too but there's also

01:38:39.820 a dimension which is that those people

01:38:42.800 who support the divine right of kings to

01:38:46.480 govern they're they're edged out from

01:38:48.200 their positions of influence they lose

01:38:49.740 out to these these new kinds of people

01:38:51.820 you know they don't command naval vessels

01:38:53.640 the patronage goes in other directions so

01:38:55.960 this is existential for them as a class as

01:38:57.900 well so as ever you see these religious

01:39:00.200 and self-interested some economic and

01:39:02.820 social motivations just layered in

01:39:05.380 melded in together in a way that you've

01:39:07.160 pointed out really nicely and so yes but

01:39:10.020 both sides draw different lessons and

01:39:12.560 there's a and in America people draw

01:39:14.160 lessons the American colonies are part of

01:39:15.620 this King Charles was king of America

01:39:16.820 many of these American colonies too and

01:39:18.280 so they draw different lessons as well so

01:39:19.820 some of those American colonies believe

01:39:21.420 that that moment enshrines the right of

01:39:23.580 resistance so-called right of resistance

01:39:24.920 which is removing an illegitimate king or

01:39:27.740 an executive authority you disagree with

01:39:29.400 there is the right of violent resistance

01:39:30.840 against that if you know when that

01:39:32.780 becomes intolerable and you see that in

01:39:34.300 the 18th century of the American

01:39:35.280 revolution and so Charles is gone

01:39:37.220 there's a new regime but like all new

01:39:39.480 regimes it's quite hard to bed in

01:39:41.140 you can't command the loyalty because

01:39:43.060 everyone goes well you're only 10 years

01:39:44.680 old you know the Plantagenet family

01:39:46.560 been around for generations I mean I can

01:39:47.940 understand why they're in charge but

01:39:49.080 I mean you guys I mean you just made

01:39:50.280 all this up yesterday right so when

01:39:51.920 Cromwell dies everyone's like what

01:39:53.060 happens now everyone's we put Cromwell's

01:39:54.540 kid on the throne and everyone goes no

01:39:55.920 he's useless and then and then there's

01:39:58.160 a bit of jockeying for position in the

01:39:59.440 end Cromwell's own people go what let's

01:40:03.740 just get let's get King Charles's son

01:40:05.440 back because at least stability is

01:40:08.120 better than chaos any we do not want to

01:40:09.660 go back to war and and they get King

01:40:11.900 Charles II back but this is the kind of

01:40:13.100 critical moment which is why this still

01:40:14.420 matters King Charles II is clever enough

01:40:16.460 the unlike the French when they're

01:40:17.700 restored off the French Revolution he

01:40:19.160 goes okay you know what we're going to

01:40:20.180 do I'm back the monarchy's back let's

01:40:22.960 pretend nothing ever happened but deep

01:40:25.160 down I get the changes that have

01:40:28.380 occurred here I'm cool with the fact

01:40:31.520 that we now have a parliament that is

01:40:33.440 almost co-equal to me in terms of

01:40:36.620 decision-making in this kingdom I'm not

01:40:38.580 going to force it I'm still going to run

01:40:40.440 around like I'm a divine king I'm a

01:40:41.880 fabulous steward I've got my palaces I've

01:40:43.660 got my hair got my mistresses but I kind

01:40:47.360 get it I get it I'm going to be a bit

01:40:49.520 more sensitive Charles II's brother

01:40:51.660 Charles II many many children who

01:40:54.040 acknowledged but they were legitimate

01:40:55.340 like Henry I Charles no no legitimate

01:40:57.920 children poor Catherine Brugganza his

01:41:00.240 wife I'm one of the most long-suffering

01:41:01.680 women in history Charles II succeeded by

01:41:04.580 his brother James II who lacked that

01:41:06.360 tact like deft touch and he just barrels

01:41:09.940 in and says no I'm divine right kings you

01:41:13.500 guys you know the Stuarts I'm the

01:41:14.760 Stuart family we're still in we you know

01:41:16.720 we were restored to the throne take it

01:41:18.860 or leave it and he lasts three years

01:41:21.160 and I think that's a reflection of the

01:41:23.480 fact that there were profound changes

01:41:25.060 that had taken place in the middle of

01:41:26.400 that 17th century that that people had

01:41:28.300 gone do you know what we need we there

01:41:30.180 is now a political tradition in this

01:41:31.420 country where we've got different we're

01:41:33.420 not an absolutist monarchy there were

01:41:35.520 people who were shocked that James of

01:41:36.780 course the division within the political

01:41:38.140 elite it was all they found that they

01:41:40.780 put James II's son-in-law and daughter

01:41:43.220 on the throne as equal monarchs but there

01:41:45.540 were a series of acts of parliament

01:41:47.360 there are a series of as we used to say

01:41:49.220 at university de facto and de jure changes

01:41:51.700 in the 1690s that meant that Britain

01:41:53.860 develops effectively that kind of

01:41:55.340 constitutional monarchy that we now in a

01:41:56.940 slow process but big changes take place

01:41:59.600 the king is not allowed to raise money in

01:42:01.940 certain areas without the permission of

01:42:03.360 parliament the king has to call parliament

01:42:05.300 every parliament has to exist he can't

01:42:07.040 just go go home for three years I'll run the

01:42:08.940 show by myself there are big changes that

01:42:11.420 take Britain down that path constitutional

01:42:13.260 monarchy so that is the 17th century a big

01:42:15.680 battle see where power lies in Britain

01:42:18.120 and so what's really interesting about that

01:42:22.000 is that it shows and that it resonates

01:42:24.800 today which is the moment you give up power

01:42:27.600 you ain't gonna get it back yes I think

01:42:32.080 that's right and it that's right yes and it

01:42:35.340 also shows that for me it also shows that

01:42:40.840 elites that were prepared like compromise

01:42:43.060 the people talk about this and compromises

01:42:44.380 this sort of identity British identity of

01:42:47.000 compromise if at the end the kind of

01:42:50.440 ultras blink they go do you know what

01:42:52.940 this is not worth fighting one I mean it's

01:42:54.780 the experience that trauma of the 17th

01:42:56.620 century that's made British aristocrats

01:42:58.140 and elites through the 18th and 19th 20th

01:43:00.640 centuries they often they there was there

01:43:03.360 are constitutional crises where dukes and

01:43:05.240 earls and viscounts go no way man we're

01:43:07.120 not doing death duties we're not allowing

01:43:08.480 this and in the end they back down and in

01:43:11.080 the end there is kind of organic

01:43:12.580 incremental change possibly because of

01:43:15.460 this trauma of the 17th century possibly

01:43:18.020 something in the British character and an

01:43:19.840 understanding so so it also suggests that

01:43:22.740 that like compromise change is possible

01:43:24.880 and getting whereas in Russia the ultras go

01:43:27.320 no no no there's going to be no it's our

01:43:29.520 it's autocracy it's autocracy it's

01:43:31.060 autocracy until it wasn't

01:43:33.360 you know and then your different type of

01:43:35.060 autocracy that's right and different

01:43:36.300 type of autocracy and then your

01:43:37.840 princesses are in a shallow ditch yeah

01:43:40.080 right and and I think that is that is

01:43:42.200 something give modern British history a

01:43:44.440 kind of interesting different flavor

01:43:46.020 some things going on elsewhere in it

01:43:47.260 now we could keep going for hours more

01:43:48.880 and I would love to but our time is

01:43:50.440 running low okay we've got another 10

01:43:52.020 minutes or so okay so I want to we're

01:43:54.620 actually just now getting to the good

01:43:55.840 bit we're getting to the give us the

01:43:57.880 good bit no no you to ask me the

01:43:59.400 question well I actually was going to

01:44:01.040 move on from the chronology so perhaps

01:44:03.540 if there's if you want to take a

01:44:05.340 couple of minutes just to fill us in

01:44:06.560 on the rest of the story yeah let's do

01:44:07.980 it okay so then we get the 18th

01:44:10.000 century where Britain so Britain's

01:44:11.780 known as the land of revolutions in the

01:44:13.120 17th century got civil war you've got

01:44:15.080 a king killed another king deposed

01:44:17.140 James second you've got various

01:44:19.060 uprisings going on it's it's a

01:44:20.580 difficult time no one would have said

01:44:23.120 Britain that one those guys there

01:44:24.500 they're about to run the world but

01:44:26.140 that's exactly what happens over the

01:44:27.200 next 150 years or so because the

01:44:29.400 industrial revolution happens in

01:44:30.700 Britain because the commercial

01:44:31.900 revolution actually there are so many

01:44:33.560 revolutions and why does it happen in

01:44:35.260 Britain oh my god oh my god I've

01:44:36.620 always thought it's the shit weather

01:44:37.620 because there's nothing else to do

01:44:38.720 but work I do I think there's that's

01:44:40.100 but it's it's everything in its

01:44:41.960 accessibility of Britain is the

01:44:43.480 Saudi Arabia of coal it's

01:44:45.280 accessibility of high energy coal quite

01:44:47.560 near the surface which is you can get

01:44:49.220 that it's Britain is surrounded by

01:44:50.840 water there's great rivers you can

01:44:52.640 build canals quite easily so you can

01:44:54.120 get that coal to industrial

01:44:55.800 enterprises really easily Britain

01:44:58.060 because of the constitutional

01:44:59.740 changes of the late of the 1690s

01:45:02.000 you've got parliament that can kind

01:45:04.160 of enforce laws you've got stat

01:45:06.920 you've got you know things like you

01:45:08.620 can invest you can there's venture

01:45:10.060 cap there's ready availability of

01:45:11.260 venture capital because of this

01:45:12.920 trading commercial revolution people

01:45:14.700 are making vast amounts of money

01:45:15.800 from slave grown sugar they invest

01:45:17.220 that in what that funny little man's

01:45:18.500 doing up the way tinkering with steam

01:45:20.240 engines steam Britain was not

01:45:22.140 over endowed with genius and the

01:45:23.940 French worked on steam a lot but it's

01:45:26.060 what takes off in Britain it takes

01:45:28.280 off in Britain you get these this

01:45:29.660 culture of self-taught men who just

01:45:31.940 who are able to attract funding who

01:45:35.060 are able to defend their patents

01:45:37.020 which is important unglamorous stuff

01:45:38.560 like that and they then build

01:45:40.000 businesses so it's all of the stuff

01:45:41.640 we're still talking about now why is

01:45:43.280 why does economic activity happen

01:45:45.240 where it does so it's raw materials

01:45:46.920 lots of iron lots of coal accessible

01:45:49.380 a common market ships they're able to

01:45:53.460 it's really interesting and and then

01:45:56.060 Britain use that industrial might

01:45:57.600 to partly use that industrial might

01:46:00.020 that scientific progress to conquer

01:46:02.180 great swathes of the world there is a

01:46:03.880 a qualitative Britain first goes to

01:46:06.480 India in the 17th century local in

01:46:09.440 battles the Brits and English more

01:46:11.140 no more like to win than the locals

01:46:12.680 it's very evenly matched by the late

01:46:14.160 18th century you got better muskets

01:46:15.660 you got better logistics supplies

01:46:17.160 extraordinary ships carrying can

01:46:19.540 mounting cannon like HMS victory

01:46:21.040 you've seen that in Portsmouth it is

01:46:22.760 it is this plethora of things and

01:46:24.540 Britain is then engaged in this

01:46:26.120 mighty war not unlike Alfred fighting

01:46:28.800 the Danes the Vikings war sharpens

01:46:32.780 this national enterprise Britain is

01:46:34.780 locked in combat the Chinese you know

01:46:37.540 the the the Qing for example you get

01:46:39.340 a little bit rusty okay because

01:46:40.920 you're hegemonic in your region you're

01:46:42.320 chilling out you're not you know you're

01:46:43.540 not you're not in the gym Britain is

01:46:45.660 just fighting constantly and there

01:46:47.980 are innovative Eisenbard Kingdom

01:46:49.100 Brunel's dad is over here going if we

01:46:51.060 what if we do this in this he invents

01:46:52.600 production life there's there's

01:46:54.080 entrepreneurs game if we attach copper

01:46:55.680 plates the bottom of these ships it

01:46:56.740 might give us a slight advantage

01:46:57.680 against the French it is really really

01:47:00.040 productive and and innovative and

01:47:02.500 that then leads to like like America

01:47:05.120 the American military 20th century

01:47:06.280 buying up microprocessors and chips

01:47:07.840 the Royal Navy is this gigantic

01:47:10.820 consumer of the industrial of

01:47:13.120 industrial projects anyway so then you

01:47:15.440 get to the 19th century Britain is has

01:47:17.700 this huge advantage and kind of

01:47:19.160 conquers this monument the biggest

01:47:20.300 empire in history of the world

01:47:21.520 partly because of its own technology

01:47:24.200 and money but also luck other you know

01:47:26.000 in India China was having a bad time

01:47:28.460 America hadn't got stuff together yet

01:47:30.000 Germany had not yet invented you know

01:47:32.180 so actually British the British power

01:47:34.260 sort of emerges in the world and feeds

01:47:36.500 off this lack of competition that

01:47:38.400 competition gets its game on in the

01:47:40.200 middle of the 19th century and this may

01:47:41.320 sound familiar to people in America but

01:47:42.680 the Brits miss out on the next

01:47:44.420 spasms the industrial revolution they

01:47:45.820 kind of miss out on chemicals they

01:47:47.020 miss out on cars they so so the

01:47:49.580 Germans and the Americans in

01:47:50.880 particular sort of getting better at

01:47:52.160 things they overtake the Brits and

01:47:53.420 then we get to the 20th century but

01:47:54.460 but you know Britain's still a great

01:47:55.400 global power in the in the late early

01:47:57.820 late 19th early 20th and then we get

01:47:59.640 the monumental global clashes the

01:48:02.040 20th century first and second world

01:48:03.860 war which I think in future will

01:48:04.980 almost be seen as a one gigantic sort

01:48:07.480 of 30 years war in which

01:48:09.280 competitor powers influenced by the

01:48:12.260 building of these massive global

01:48:13.440 empires and I include America in that

01:48:14.760 you know America conquers North

01:48:16.020 America Russia conquers northern

01:48:18.460 Eurasia Britain conquers much the

01:48:20.740 rest of the world and and driven in

01:48:22.640 that context competitor nations

01:48:24.640 rising nations like Germany and Japan

01:48:26.420 they want a piece of it and you fight

01:48:28.740 these ginormous wars for for global

01:48:31.080 empire that finally come to the end

01:48:32.540 945 then you get the Cold War and

01:48:34.020 and at the end of Britain there's a

01:48:35.780 great power but yeah so that's a

01:48:37.120 that's a dash through well that was

01:48:38.560 awesome really enjoyed that we will

01:48:40.540 have to invite you back and talk in

01:48:42.600 more detail about some of the things

01:48:43.980 but for now in terms of the

01:48:45.460 chronology you'll probably leave it

01:48:46.520 there the one thing I wanted to ask

01:48:48.060 you in the last couple of minutes is

01:48:49.200 with all that said what does it mean

01:48:52.060 to be English what does it mean to be

01:48:54.020 British is other trends that you

01:48:56.520 might pluck out from history and from

01:49:00.600 the way that people are here versus

01:49:02.800 the way people are in other places

01:49:04.120 I was born in the Soviet Union and

01:49:06.500 came here in 95 so it's a question

01:49:08.460 that's always fascinated me but I

01:49:09.780 also think it's a question that is

01:49:11.480 very pointing today because we are I

01:49:13.660 feel in the moment when we are trying

01:49:16.060 to find a way to have an identity that

01:49:18.340 is sufficiently clear but also the

01:49:21.740 people can buy into so that we can

01:49:23.180 live in a cohesive society so what if

01:49:25.480 we were to say you know what does it

01:49:27.380 mean to be British what does it mean

01:49:28.520 to be English what's your answer I

01:49:31.120 think I think history is difficult

01:49:33.340 here because what's pretty clear is

01:49:35.820 identity is something that we we take

01:49:37.920 on it's not an external force we're

01:49:39.940 not we're not passive to identity it

01:49:41.980 doesn't come and occupy us and and in

01:49:44.540 the 17th century that's what they're

01:49:45.880 fighting about identity who are we are

01:49:48.220 we Catholics I mean Britain has been

01:49:49.940 through Britain's been through some

01:49:51.040 180 degree Britain used to regard

01:49:53.000 itself as a bastion of of mixed

01:49:55.960 aristocratic royal and representative

01:49:57.900 government against democracy Britain

01:50:00.400 used to you know there were peals of

01:50:01.880 laughter it was just an house of

01:50:03.080 commons that women might one day vote

01:50:04.680 so do we say well we've always

01:50:06.800 believed in equality like so so it's

01:50:09.620 Britain was leading participant in the

01:50:11.860 in the trade and enslaved human beings

01:50:13.680 but also exactly and there were huge

01:50:17.120 debates but there were huge debates in

01:50:18.760 Britain about this is filthy money we

01:50:20.440 don't want this right from the 17th

01:50:21.900 century on the way through you know so

01:50:23.040 so these things so and then we talked

01:50:24.880 about 17th century who are we are we

01:50:26.400 Protestant are we Catholic are we high

01:50:27.660 church probably what what kind of

01:50:29.640 Protestant Catholics are we are we

01:50:31.260 people that go and fight the Spanish

01:50:32.920 and carve out empire are we people

01:50:35.220 like what you want about which trade

01:50:36.680 with them man we'll make more money

01:50:37.900 trading with them you know so so I I'm

01:50:40.980 not sure that history has any

01:50:44.420 consistent I mean you know so until

01:50:48.560 there's a great expression of the 18th

01:50:50.140 century that says to be an Englishman

01:50:51.440 is to hate the French you know like I

01:50:53.780 mean I I'm not sure that's super

01:50:56.320 valuable today in fact with you know

01:50:59.040 Vladimir Putin on the march in Eastern

01:51:00.680 Europe I think we should hug the

01:51:01.740 French as close as we can I mean I

01:51:03.120 think we need we need our European

01:51:04.240 allies right so and in fact in in 20th

01:51:06.460 century history Britain fought the two

01:51:07.660 greatest wars in its history on the

01:51:08.940 same side as as the French and most of

01:51:11.280 those wars so so I I this was a country

01:51:13.920 that gloried in bear baiting and fox

01:51:16.320 hunting you know the identity is

01:51:18.040 something that has evolved quite so I

01:51:21.100 think I don't know what history teaches

01:51:24.600 about identity other than identity is

01:51:26.380 what what we choose it is malleable of

01:51:29.120 course it's influenced by by the past and

01:51:33.920 yet it's something that I think we need

01:51:35.900 to be active in in in forging ourselves

01:51:39.180 it's not something that's just going to

01:51:40.720 come come to us it's people like you on

01:51:42.920 this podcast are forging identities it's

01:51:44.760 it's it's that's why the Normans built

01:51:48.920 gigantic Romanesque cathedrals around

01:51:51.780 England they said by the way guys this

01:51:53.980 is now the kind of Catholics you are

01:51:55.820 this is how you worship you know

01:51:58.360 identity has often been quite an elite

01:51:59.940 project well and you mentioned for

01:52:01.760 example was Alfred the Grey yeah you

01:52:04.540 know you're not mercy and lads you're

01:52:06.880 English now getting now getting the

01:52:08.940 ranks well right and it's it's

01:52:11.800 interesting because there's as I'm sure

01:52:13.800 you're aware there's this whole big flag

01:52:15.100 debate at the moment and I remember

01:52:16.800 Francis and I went to to private dinner

01:52:18.640 in which there was a speaker who talked

01:52:20.240 about the fact that flag flag waving is

01:52:24.080 not a very British thing historically

01:52:25.400 speaking and he made the point that it

01:52:27.720 tends to be something generally speaking

01:52:30.120 that becomes prominent at times when

01:52:31.680 people feel fairly insecure there's they

01:52:34.320 feel that there's an external threat or

01:52:36.160 maybe an internal threat or there's some

01:52:37.680 kind of challenge and it feels like maybe

01:52:41.380 that's where Britain is at the moment

01:52:42.600 possibly some people I think the I think

01:52:44.620 you look there was a great complaint by

01:52:46.980 some in the late 19th century that the

01:52:48.460 British people didn't care about their

01:52:49.800 empire and if you read if you know read

01:52:52.040 Jane Austen if you read fiction for the

01:52:53.940 19th century a lot of the time like the

01:52:57.240 fact that you've conquered some sway of

01:52:58.620 southern Africa no one really cares you

01:52:59.800 know there's a big debate like who's

01:53:01.060 benefiting from empire actually often it's

01:53:03.000 the settlers in southern Africa and

01:53:04.260 Buddy Whitehall's writing the checks when

01:53:05.840 they go and antagonize the locals oh great

01:53:08.160 we'll send the red you've nicked

01:53:09.360 everyone's land now we're gonna have to

01:53:10.440 send the red coats in you know so

01:53:11.940 these things are really complicated then

01:53:13.940 but then in the late 19th century you do

01:53:15.560 see this jingoism that kind of they get

01:53:17.400 it on that the music halls the popular

01:53:19.300 press you've got more union flags you

01:53:21.300 know just the navy they park big

01:53:23.240 battleships they deliberately do that

01:53:24.840 they take it to Liverpool they take it

01:53:26.340 to Glasgow HMS Warrior you get people

01:53:28.360 going to see in Portsmouth when that's

01:53:29.600 launched it doesn't fight fire a shot

01:53:31.340 against the French it spends a lot of

01:53:33.520 time doing propaganda tours in the UK

01:53:35.900 and people are encouraged to go on it look

01:53:38.280 this is it lads we're a maritime nation

01:53:40.680 now now Britain was I love the sea

01:53:42.880 Britain but now we see lobbyist people

01:53:46.200 I go to conferences we we talk about

01:53:48.060 sea blindness the people of Britain

01:53:49.360 don't consider themselves I don't think

01:53:50.920 a super maritime people it's not

01:53:52.300 something that you your friends and

01:53:54.440 family don't go and serve in the

01:53:55.720 merchant marine the merchant navy you

01:53:57.180 don't you don't meet our politicians

01:53:59.420 haven't served in the navy are upon you

01:54:02.000 know so so we but you know Britain used

01:54:04.500 to be and and people like me are

01:54:06.880 engaged in a kind of low-level and

01:54:08.420 frankly hopeless effort to sort of to

01:54:10.780 to nudge the identity a bit in that

01:54:12.400 direction to help people reconnect with

01:54:14.520 up with with the sea that our destiny

01:54:16.680 lies on the ocean so I feel that

01:54:20.020 history I again I just come back to the

01:54:23.480 fight we get to choose our identity and

01:54:27.440 that will will inevitably be a battle it

01:54:29.820 is a battle between look flag's a great

01:54:32.100 example we have an English flag we've got

01:54:33.840 a British flag now that's fascinating I

01:54:35.700 find that people that for some people

01:54:37.380 there's an illusion there but by putting

01:54:39.300 that English flag on there you're saying

01:54:40.780 something fundamentally different to

01:54:42.380 putting that Union flag on there that

01:54:44.360 in itself is a massive schism that

01:54:47.400 exists even within the flag putter uppers

01:54:50.180 yes it's true Dan what a pleasure it's

01:54:52.880 been thank you so much for coming on the

01:54:54.160 show before we head over to Substack where

01:54:56.700 we ask you questions from our supporters

01:54:58.360 first tell everybody I'm sure there'll be

01:55:01.320 loads of people wanting to find more of

01:55:02.720 your work where they can do that and

01:55:03.880 then we'll ask you to just go to history

01:55:05.260 folks like you guys we're on all the

01:55:06.760 platforms we're spraying it out

01:55:08.740 everywhere we can history podcast

01:55:10.280 YouTube subscription video all the

01:55:12.100 stuff final question what's the one

01:55:14.000 thing we're not talking about that we

01:55:15.240 really should be well in this

01:55:16.440 conversation we I do I do think I'm a

01:55:19.640 bit nervous about the Greenland ice

01:55:20.860 sheet falling off into the North Atlantic

01:55:22.340 I mean what's interesting about I mean

01:55:24.680 that's so either catastrophic climate

01:55:26.300 change cancer disease those kind of like

01:55:28.300 anti anti back and like but anti

01:55:30.740 antibiotic resistant drugs and strains

01:55:34.580 of disease I think that we are all so

01:55:37.200 busy inevitably we got the cut and

01:55:38.940 thrust of who's in who's out in Whitehall

01:55:41.060 there are these massive systemic things

01:55:43.200 I'm not talking about so and what's

01:55:45.500 really interesting about prehistory is

01:55:47.160 you can look at there have been moments

01:55:48.960 in prehistory for example in the English

01:55:50.100 channel was formed that seems to have

01:55:51.820 been quite a catastrophic event these

01:55:53.920 not glacial geological terms that we

01:55:56.540 could as somebody lives about two meters

01:55:58.520 above sea level I am really worried

01:56:00.220 about catastrophic sea level rise and

01:56:01.800 you know the as I say the Greenland

01:56:03.160 ice sheet just falling off and so I

01:56:05.620 would say I'm unfortunately you might

01:56:07.180 call me a progressive lib you know

01:56:09.700 crybaby or whatever the expression is

01:56:10.900 but I I do think existential

01:56:15.300 civilizational shock as a result of

01:56:18.480 volcano super volcanoes disease you know

01:56:22.980 climate change but but climate change

01:56:24.800 both man-made in other forms I think is

01:56:26.780 something that we uh so we're under

01:56:28.780 under valuing here so uh enjoy that

01:56:32.260 folks all right head on over to

01:56:34.880 Substack where we ask Dan your

01:56:36.240 questions

01:56:36.820 how much do you think the board award

01:56:40.700 do you like the reaction yeah set the

01:56:43.420 stage for world war one and two

01:56:46.040 you

01:56:51.500 you

01:56:55.500 you

01:56:57.500 you

01:56:59.500 you

01:57:01.500 you

01:57:02.500 you

TRIGGERnometry - September 21, 2025

The True History of England with Dan Snow

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