The Battle of Hastings: The Birth of Modern England
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
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Source/Further reading:
“William the Conqueror” by David Bates
“Edward the Confessor” by Frank Barlow
“The Feudal Kingdom of England 1042-1216” by Frank Barlow
Thanks to Keeps for sponsoring this video! Go to www.keeps.com/GEOGRAPHICS to get 50% off your first order of Keeps hair loss treatment.
now battle of Stanford bridge, please
I'm 35 and part of 33.33% that doesn't have that problem.
I truly thought you were 45. Sorry bud.
Embrace the baldness
I will stick with the shave once a week and zero maintenance hair I have had for the past 20 years.
One arrow. One lucky arrow, and the history of the world for the last thousand years is much different.
Apparently the arrow is mythical and got stuck in the real narrative
@@bumboybandit "got stuck"? I see what you did there. 😉👍
@@SkunkApe407 yes lol 😂 im from the area and its well known locally that the arrow somehow got mixed up in history. Also the battle itself wasn't on battle fields it was on caldbec hill which isn't far but still other side of town. Apparently, I can't be sure I wasn't there lol. Think old Robinson (Tony?) did a time team on it few years ago when they were building the 'new road', mentions it there.
@@bumboybandit yup, it's Tony Robinson and Time Team that located the likely battlefield based on the history.
I love that show
The original shot heard round the world
If I could offer I minor correction: The round shields and Kite shields used by the Normans and Anglo-Saxons most likely did not have metal rims. It was more likely that they had leather or rawhide rims, which would potentially allow for an opponent's weapon to become stuck in the rim, which essentially made the opponent's weapon unusable until removed, which as one might imagine, would not end well.
I think it's even more interesting, to consider the effect the battle had on the English language.
And this is why you live in a home and not a ham
@@feartheamish9183 And why we eat pork and beef, not pig and cow.
@@feartheamish9183 did you just quote oversimplified? XD
Probably the most important effect of the Battle of Hastings is the massive change it had on the English language
That is why it is so different from German, Dutch or Frisian which are technically the closest 3 languages to English, genealogically speaking
@@RonnieOP it's also vastly different than Irish, Manx, and Gaelic. Without the Battle of Hastings our language would more closely resemble those three languages or their precursor Old Irish. Not exactly a bad thing, but could you imagine what Welsh would sound like with a Southeastern US accent? Holy crap that would be confusing!
1066, the quartet of numbers that got drilled into our heads through the first few years of Secondary School. Great to see this talked about!
All things considered, it is a very important number to remember. 1066, 1215, and 1776, all played vital roles in shaping modern history. The emergence of modern day England, the creation of the Manga Carta, and the secession of the colonies from England. All English events that changed the outcome of world history.
While going to university in Paris I signed up for a trip that included Mont St Michel, the Normandy American Cemetery, and to see the Bayeux Tapestry. What I remember most about it (besides that it is embroidery and not tapestry) is the depiction of Haley's Comet and the naked people on it.
In the UK large needlepoint tend to be called tapestry. - don't know why
Simon: Two germanic speaking groups...the Angles and the Saxons.
Jutes: Why you no love us?
I can't help but wonder how exactly does the conversion begin when a hair loss company asks to sponsor a magnificently bald youtubers channel? 😉
The company watches Simon's videos upside down.
Conversation
2:10 - Chapter 1 - The anglo saxons
3:20 - Chapter 2 - The normans
4:30 - Chapter 3 - The crisis of king edward
6:05 - Chapter 4 - Rival claimants emerge
8:20 - Chapter 5 - The battle of stamford bridge
10:15 - Chapter 6 - The norman invasion
12:20 - Chapter 7 - The battle
14:10 - Chapter 8 - Turning point
16:30 - Chapter 9 - Long live the king
- Chapter 10 -
Not all heroes wear capes. 🙏🏻
Chapter 11 - Whatever happened to the Jutes?
Thank you Simon and Company. Very interesting.
Man, clicked on the video feeling good and within a minute Simon had stripped away my good feeling by reminding me I need to shine my head 😩😩
Might I suggest Kiwi Natural Shoe Polish and a rotary buffer? If you're gonna buff the chrome dome you might as well make sure that fucker has a mirror shine. I'm talking "temporarily blind low flying pilots" shiny.
As I said above, bald men are sexy. I'm married to one.
Bald men are hella sexy. I also married one, and I started watching Simon bc he's bald 🥰
@@decgal81 Uh, huh, bald men are sexy. Sure. That's why men who are going bald do the ridiculous comb-over thing and why toupees and hair replacements are billion-dollar businesses.
You should do the Battle of Agincourt where most of the French aristocracy died and Medieval total war II is where I learned of this battle to lol.
It was a sequel to Crécy. For whatever reason, France never learned their lesson about the dangers of English bowmen.
@@editorrbr2107 *Welsh, not English bowmen. Sadly the bow was to be superceded quite soon after this battle.
He should make a new ‘Warographics’ channel where he discusses famous battles.
@@editorrbr2107 And yet France ultimately WAS able to turn the tide and win the war in the end, leading to the Wars of the Roses.
My favourite part of Hastings was always the last stand around the Kings body, quite literally the last stand of the old Englishmen.
I love the idea of having a half time break
It’s a shame they didn’t switch ends
I enjoyed this very much. Thank you!
Huh, I forgot that Stamford Bridge was a pre-cursor to the Battle of Hastings. "Harald Hardrada's face was red. Came to Brition and he wound up dead. Stamford Bridge is where he's found. He got 6 feet of English ground."
This was excellent. I was glued to every word. I think I will watch it again. Thanks.
Went to the 1066 re-enactment on Senlac Hill in 2016...a very moving experience I can tell you!
Any chance we might see a Biographics on Alfred the Great?
Didn't he already do one?
Edit: just looked and he hasn't. He did one on Ed the Confessor, but not Great Al. You'd think that he would have been a "must" for any Brit with a biography channel. I'm with you, that video NEEDS to happen.
Would be good, though how much is fact, rather than myth, is an issue.
Alfred the Who
@@owenshebbeare2999 print the legend!
@@theangryaustralian7624 silence! Don't make us call the emus...
This was so well done. Thank you for such concise content. I'm a direct descendent of William and several others mentioned; so many times one side or the other is vilified but this was refreshingly unbiased...excellent job😊
I just read about the Harrying of the North. One word to describe it, brutal.
Yeah and people think it's tough now
At the end of his life even William had regrests about the extent of the hsrrowing of the north. Brutal barely begins to describe it. Mind you, I suspect William's regrets were about the extent of the harrowing not the perceived need for it.
I walked the battlefield a couple of years ago, and it's hard to visualize because of the changes that have been made over the last nearly 1000 years. I kept imagining the cavalry charge getting bogged down in the pond built by the monks in the Middle Ages. BTW: the photo of the town of Battle makes it look bigger than it is. :)
I've always been fascinated by this era of English history. Emma of Normandy was a remarkable woman: wife of two kings, mother of two kings, and one of the richest, most influential women of the era. I'd love to see a video about her.
Unless *we* make it I doubt it'd be made.. the other thing about all these euphemistically called "power struggles" is all the raping of the women/weak/vulnerable who were caught up in the villages of the area, that no doubt happened ad nauseum
Great the good old day's Emma en norm and dit . 😉😉 1066 to 1069 on a nutty nigh 🥂 Magna carta for the web 🕸 🕸 For Simon Sake.
A little trivia bit I've always found neat is at the beginning of the 1950's Disney animated film adaption of "Alice In Wonderland." The first bit of spoken dialogue is Alice's sister reading from a history book, in a section describing when William was being offered the crown of England. :-)
My old english teacher kept talking about the Battle of Hastings so often (and at odd moments) that "1066? Battle of Hastings!" is somewhat of a meme in my friendgroup. I am from germany.
It is a fascinating story and the tapestry of Bayeux is really one remarkable depiction of this (from the viewpoint of the winners of course). I can only highly recommend any visitor to France to take the train to Bayeux and visit this museum. Although the inscriptions are Latin, it is like a huge comic strip, where the pictures really tell the story and also let us learn a lot about medieval weaponry and armor.
Had a 22m long paper version. Even as a child, when I got it, it smacked of propaganda. Interesting, but not really accurate.
Thanks Simon, it was a more thorough 'Education' upon the before & afters of 1066 than I'd had before.
Regards
Simon, how about a video about the Birth of that sweet British Accent then?
I would be curious to know how it came to be since England was born from Normands. I know a little how Old French was (I'm French Canadian and I had some interest into it a few years ago) but I don't know anything about the current British accent.
Cheers from Montréal, Canada
Simon not that you need any more channels or projects.... but I think a really cool long term serial Podcast for you would just be covering the history of England, or anywhere really! I'd follow as many as you did, I love history podcasts!
Senlac Hill was the site of the battle so Battle was misnamed but never mind.
Pevensey castle was on the coast, it’s now a mile or so inland, the beach at Pevensey bay wasn’t where it is now.
The whole area has altered so pinpointing actual areas was always going to be difficult. Not like the Duc de Normandie was going to put a sign there saying ‘Guillaume was here’.
I love the Keeps people running as on Simon's vids
The last kingdom tv series brought me here. If you have not watched it yet go watch it its on Netflix it's amazing.
Is it as good as Vikings? I've watched all of Vikings and watched the trailer for Kingdom but it just didn't look as good...
@@carston101 Dunno that's a matter of personal preference, I think. I have watched both shows and I personally like The last Kingdom more.
You could watch the first 3 episodes, if you don't like it after then its not for you I think
@@carston101 Its better than Vikings. It's far more historically correct too!
@@supergabbar just wanted to come back here after watching the firet episode.
I can't put my finger on it whether its the production quality or the camera work but something felt a bit weird throughout the entire episode. However the characters, scenery, acting and design were all great.
But what finally hooked me in to deciding to watch the rest of the show was the last line from Uhtred: "I am Uhtred of Bebbanburg, and I will take what is mine. BEBBANBURG IS MINE!!" I can already tell I'm gonna like this Uhtred guy, lol.
Tldr: great first episode, and now im gonna watch the entire series lol
@@carston101 Enjoy...I have just finished all three series and can't wait for the next!
Seriously Simon, when are you getting a channel about historical battles? You clearly have talent in it!
This must have been recorded after Business Blaze, cuz Simon spelled the comet correctly!☄
Love this!!
You should cover the Battle of Leyte Gulf and its effects on the Japanese Navy and its massive effects on the Pacific theatre as a whole. (Plus it’s both the largest naval battle in history and the greatest naval mismatch in history)
Yes please! With the sinking of the Yamato, the Death of the Japanese Navy was most definitely assured.
I’m spruiking this idea everywhere people are asking for more battles to be covered: Simon should make a Warographics channel to discuss famous battles in the same manner as Bio and Geographics. Because he doesn’t already have enough channels. 😂
@@--enyo-- Battlegraphics
I learned something today, Simon younger than I am. With that came the realization that he is doing a lot more in life than I am. Back to the drawing board I should go.
Biographics on Alfred the great, or Ecgbehrt
Imagine, if not for either those pesky Norsemen under Harold Hardrada or one VERY lucky archer at Battle, the history of both England and quite probably the world would be very very different. 🤔🤷♂️
Oui l'Angleterre aurait été un pays du tiers monde
@@deyzacvincent3091 still salty about that waterloo business old boy? 🤭😁
"Ability is of little value without opportunity, I had rather my generals be lucky than able" - Napoleon Bonaparte.
A foolhardy view at best. A dangerous one at worst.
Sun Tzu would have words for those who rely on luck.
Interesting video. I admit I didn’t know as much about this battle as I should have. Oversimplified did a video about how the English language changed after the battle.
On my mother's side of the family we can trace our ancestry back to William. A princess chose to marry a commoner and leave England for the new world
Go figure. My ancestry is can be traced back to one of William's officers. They ended up getting a spot of land in Essex post war, held onto it until they invested in one of the Massachusetts Colonies. At some point, they ended up abandoning their claims in England, to live in the Colonies...founded literal dozens of towns and cities from eastern Mass all the way to Waterbury VT.
Everybody now:
I’m William the Conqueror
My enemies stood no chance...
They call me the first English king, although I came from France...
@@generalkenobi5533 1066 the doomsday book I gave to history
So fat on death my body burst, but enough about me.
To help remember all your kings I’ve come up with this song
A simple rhyming ditty for you all to sing along… Oh!
William!
(Bit short init? We need more kings. Who came next?)
William Second, cheeks were red
Killed out hunting so it’s said
I took over, Henry One
That’s my next eldest son!
Then king Stephen, it’s true check it!
I Henry Two killed Thomas Beckett!
Richard Lionheart, that’s right
Always spoiling for a fight
@@Kerriangel then king John, what a disaster- rule restrained by magna Carta!
William
William
Henry
Stephen
Henry
Richard
John
Oi!
Topic suggestion/ The Saratoga National Historical Park in Stillwater New York the battles of Saratoga revolutionary war , which also includes the Saratoga monument, schuyler house.
The Bayeux Tapestry is amazing
18:22 them horses look concerned 👀 😂 😂😂
Love this video! Just wanted to add a couple things: that oath Harold made to William? William didnt bring it up until he was struggling to find allies for his invasion. Once he let the oath be known he suddenly had all kinds of support!
As for that moment where everyone thought William was dead, if Harold had gone all in and sent his entire army into the charge he very likely would have broken the Norman's. They were already breaking, getting hit by the entire Saxon army would've shattered them.
Also want to note its unclear when Harold's brothers died. There are some reports that they died during the failed charge while the Norman's were breaking and that their bodies were found laying beside Harold's.
I like the way Keeps only picks bald people as pitchers and tells them to say "If you don't want to end up looking like me buy their product". They have never picked some 70+ yo that still has his long hair from the 1960's and had him say "I still have my hair thanks to their product". Makes you kinda wonder if the shit actually works (guessing no, and by the time that's common knowledge they've already made their million $).
That's what I say every time I see his ad. I've still got a bunch of hair, and never used any of these stupid products. But I was told I'd be balding by 30 because my mother's brother had the same hair when he was 20.
Good video 👍
Harald Hardrada, unspoken hero of William the Conqueror. He weakened and scattered the English army before the Norman invasion. I wonder how different history would be, if the invasions had been the other way around.
Great vid. An interesting follow up to this would be the Harrying of the North, its a grim story but not one that's widely known; after conquering England the North rebelled, and the Normans responded with a genocide.
Thank you
As the "Horrible Histories" song goes: 1066 saw Harold in a fix as William conquered all. What was the bettin' an arrow in his retina would lead to his downfall?"
what's remarkable is that Harold needn't have lost - he didn't give his troops time to rest, left his archers behind and even went into battle with unarmoured troops (except for the housecarls)
He left his archers behind because they couldn’t keep up on the hastened march back south. He went into battle with unarmoured troops because he didn’t have time to manufacture new armour. William had already landed
@@ethanquirk28 Harold's brother Gyrth offered to go delay William while Harold got his army ready at London.... it definitely seems to have been a poorly planned attack by Harold
@@mayoite160 Gyrth didn’t offer to delay William, he offered to fight the battle in Harold’s place. You might think this prudent if it wasn’t for the fact their other brother Tostig had just gone up North on his own to join Harald Hardrada’s army instead. Gyrth still took part in the battle of Hastings and met the same fate as his brother.
As a Godwin, I'd love a full episode on Harold Godwinson. He did lead a remarkable life.
An advert for curing hair loss on the channel of the best known bald bloke on TH-cam! LOL!
Most countries in the world are now learning English and speaking it, including my parents native home Albania. They have a huge reach.
i do wonder what england would have been like if it had stayed more aligned with scandinavia considering just how closely linked we were , and that a dialect of norse was still spoken in the scottish isles until the 1800s
Biographics ....LOve Alfred the Great (he did not get the title until 800 years after his death ...the early protestant church in England admired him, the growth of the Cult of Alfred is interesting in itself) , Ecgberht is interesting too. Buttt ...the Anglo Saxon who is really interesting is the forgotten warrior queen, daughter of Alfred ...Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians (c. 870 - 12 June 918) ...the scottish and irish annuals did not mention Alfred's death but they did record hers.
Poor Edgar Atheling - the child who had the most legitimate claim to the English throne in 1066 is written out of history; again. Not to worry. This was a great, concise telling of the story of the battle of Hastings.
Odo must have commissioned that tapestry before returning to the Gamma Quadrant.
I would LOVE to see a collaboration with you, Dr Kat & LangFocus!!! 👌
I wonder if Gyrth and Leofwine's protection of their brother's body was inspiration for Fili and Kili in the Hobbit, given that Tolkien was an Anglo-Saxon scholar?
As J.S. Mill put it, the battle of Marathon fought in 490 BC between the Athenians with support from Plataea and the invading Persians was more important than the Battle of Hastings, even as an event in English history. So too, arguably, was the battle of Thermopylae of ten years later.
You should do a "Complete History of Britain/Englang" series/ playlist
In a flash and it's all over and done with, feel like i have just run a race!
Dude if you do the hair loss treatment and it works for you, I will totally consider trying it
I have been losing my hair since 15 and been bald since 18, the only way to fix my baldness is that surgery but I really recommend what you were promoting if you just start losing hair
Time for some biographics videos of some of the Vikings that raided England. i.e. Ivar the boneless, Bjorn Ironside, Halfdan Lodbrok, Sigurd Snake-in-eye, etc
Pretty informative.
Goodman Simon
He'my 22nd great-grandfather too! And, as they say, that and a quarter will get you a cup of coffee. Nevermind that the 25¢ cup of coffee costs upwards of $8 these days...
Simon needs a Bob Ross wig. The Keeps ad made that image pop into my head.
I would be interesting to see a video about the real Macbeth someday
"One does never speak the name of the Scottish Play"
"What? Macbeth?" - Blackadder
He wasn't nearly the evil person Shakespeare made him out to be, apparently. But, he was no fool--Scotsmen were not favored in his era.
@@jodilewis5593 From what I've seen the real one was pretty cool, in a "for his time" kinda way
No mention of just how much of continental France would be eventually lost by William's "descendants"...
Simon do a biographics about rollo
Brilliant story
So glad Simon did not misread King Cnut
I'm surprised nobody has made a film of it.
Hey there, how about the volcano that started in a cornfield in mexico? From memory I think its called paricutin and started growing in 1943?
History from school days, excellent
Harold Godwinson was a total badass. If he had just been better protected, he might have won.
So the Brits decided they got tired of being conquered, enjoyed being the conquerors, and went on to try to conquer the entire planet lol
i can trace my family back to the Normans about 100 years after the battle of Hastings and I've done the DNA test which shows me as part English, German and Scandinavian the insane part, no French goes to show you how different the Normans were to the French
I remember learning about this battle at school, but they taught us none of this.
Then, 900 years later, the English invade (with help) Normandy...
True, and it needed to be done.
The british*
Bishop Odo? I didn't know shapeshifters were allowed to be bishops... :P
Ahh, the obligatory Star Trek geek reference. I wonder if he was also an "unknown substance".
I studied this when I was in primary school year 5 to be exact.
William got very lucky, when the English broke their defensive position and chased the Normans, seeking to rout them. William didn't heed Sun Tzu: "If you're enemy holds the high ground, do not attack him, If he attacks downhill, do not oppose him". William should not have attacked uphill with a full compliment, but rather harried the English with feints and probing sorties, to get them to come down off their position "If your enemy is angry, irritate him". But, full attack worked out for him, so no matter.
Great video but please consider using other platforms like Odysee and Rumble because the amount of ads on YT are ridiculous. I'm getting ads every three minutes, worse than cable tv lol.
This is like Aegon's Conquest of Westeros
Just watched this with my 8yo daughter. We live close to Battle and I thought she might find it interesting. Aside from her outrage at the rate with which William got through horses her only other reflection was “you watch this guy A LOT”…
(Also, I’m irredeemably bald so there was a bit of mocking of that fact given the sponsorship at the start. Gah.)
1066 saw harold in a fix as william conquered all.
What was the bettin' a arrow in his retina would lead to his downfall
In Battle, theres a fantastic milkshake shop 😂
Awe you did not mention my home town Berkhamsted :( ....After William defeated and killed Harold II at the Battle of Hastings in October, he failed in an attempt to capture London from the south. William led his army around London, crossing the River Thames at Wallingford, "laying waste" while travelling through southeast England. At Berkhamsted, he finally received the surrender of Edgar the Ætheling (heir to the English throne), Archbishop Ealdred, Earl Edwin, Earl Morcar and the leaders of London. It is not known why the town was chosen as the meeting place, except that it was both a trading centre and a defensive location north-west of London. William was crowned in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066. After his coronation, William granted the "Honour of Berkhamsted" to his half-brother, Robert, Count of Mortain, who after William became the largest landholder in the country. Robert built a wooden fortification that later became a royal retreat for the monarchs of the Norman and Plantagenet dynasties. Check out Wikipedia for more.
He feels like my wise professor and it turns out he’s younger than I am 😂
it’s funny how the portrait artists of the 1000s had the artistic talent of middle schoolers
Simon has the beard of knowledge
The blessings of Beard Blaze oil 😆
He had a brother named *Girth* ?? Yeah that's awesome!
That one time a Viking Duke that came from France and invaded England became king. History can be weirder than fiction.
Study British monarchs, you'll never need fiction again. There's some positively insane hijinks in there!
Oui enfin Guillaume était français et n'était plus vikings du tout