The Normans
British history professor Robert Bartlett explains, mainly on historical sites and illustrated with authentic artifacts, the eventful history of the Normans, some of the Norse men (Vikings) from Norway who stopped raiding the European coasts to settle down as conquerors. First Rollo established them in Normandy, forcing the French king to recognize him as its duke and royal vassal, which soon led to adopting a largely French culture while retaining their military excellence. One of his successors, Duke William the Bastard, conquered England at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Other knights set out from Normandy to southern Italy, and from there on crusade, founding a Sicilian kingdom and short-lived principalities in Antioch and Tiberias (Galilee).
- 2010-2010
- 1 season
- HBO Max
- Documentary
British history professor Robert Bartlett explains, mainly on historical sites and illustrated with authentic artifacts, the eventful history of the Normans, some of the Norse men (Vikings) from Norway who stopped raiding the European coasts to settle down as conquerors. First Rollo established them in Normandy, forcing the French king to recognize him as its duke and royal vassal, which soon led to adopting a largely French culture while retaining their military excellence. One of his successors, Duke William the Bastard, conquered England at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Other knights set out from Normandy to southern Italy, and from there on crusade, founding a Sicilian kingdom and short-lived principalities in Antioch and Tiberias (Galilee).
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Cast & Crew
Season 1 Episode Guide
Episode 1
Men from the North
60 mins
The name Normans originally refers to Vikings, Germanic people raiding the Eurpean coast from their Scandinavian homes for centuries. As the clergy, their main prey, wrote histories, they got an excessively bad press. Norwegians led by Rollo actually conquered present Normandy, a maritime part of weakened France, and got royal sanctioning by accepting to became a 'vassal' duchy. They soon adapted very well to feudal continental Eurpoean ways, while preserving enough of their military force to become a formidable power. William, one of Rollo's successors, an illegitimate son from a local commoner mother, expertly uses it after consolidating himself as duke to mount an invasion of England. The Bayeux tapestry illustrates various complications, such as the unclear pretext concerning his English rival for the throne, Earl Harold, whose forces were exhausted after defeating a fresh Norwegian invasion from king Harald. William's victory in the battle of Hastings in 1066 made Anglo-Saxon England a semi-gallicized nation.
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