Episodes

  • Episode 1 - Rollo and the Viking Age

    Episode 1 - Rollo and the Viking Age
    Sep 23 2009
    They were the great success story of the Middle Ages, a footloose band of individual adventurers who appeared out of nowhere to blaze across the face of Dark Age Europe. In the course of two centuries the Normans launched a series of extraordinary conquests, transforming Anglo-Saxon England into Great Britain, setting up a powerful Crusader state in Antioch, and turning Palermo into the dazzling cultural and economic capital of the western Mediterranean. Their story, however, begins rather humbly in the fierce Viking Age, when a group of Scandinavian raiders came crashing into Charlemagne's empire. Join Lars Brownworth as he follows the ferocious warrior Rollo, the first Norman, who began life as a simple raider and ended it as a great lord of the West.
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    18 mins
  • Episode 2 - Richard the Fearless

    Episode 2 - Richard the Fearless
    Oct 12 2009
    With the death of Rollo and his son, Normandy seemed poised on the brink of disaster. Its nobles were in open revolt and the King of France had seized the capital of Rouen. The legitimate heir, Richard I, was only nine years old- and a captive of the crown- yet against all expectations he grew into one of early Normandy's most formidable Dukes. Along the way he acquired the nickname of Richard the Fearless, and is remembered chiefly as the man who put Normandy on the map. Join Lars Brownworth as he looks at the dramatic career of the first Norman Duke.
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    9 mins
  • Episode 3 - Richard the Good: Inventing the Past

    Episode 3 - Richard the Good: Inventing the Past
    Nov 19 2009
    At the start of Richard II's reign northern Europe was once again subjected to a wave of Viking attacks. The young Duke was faced with the question of what to do with his distant Norse brethren. Assist these pagans in their plunder and be labeled a pirate himself - or resist and become their next victim. His solution would intertwine the fate of Normandy with the kingdom of England, and lay the groundwork for the great conquest to come. In the process he would commission the first court historian and create a new identity for the Normans. Join Lars Brownworth as he looks at both England and Normandy in the time of Richard the Good.
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    14 mins
  • Episode 4 - Magnificent Devil

    Episode 4 - Magnificent Devil
    Jan 13 2010
    The reign of Robert I began under the dark suspicion of murder and descended into chaos as the young Duke struggled for control. Dogged by rumors of fratricide and a papal excommunication, he carried on a whirlwind romance with the beautiful Herleve and attempted the first invasion of England. Join Lars Brownworth as he looks at the tempestuous career of Robert I whose own subjects could never quite decide if he was Robert the Magnificent- or Robert the Devil.
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    15 mins
  • Episode 5 - William the Conqueror

    Episode 5 - William the Conqueror
    Mar 26 2010
    The young Duke William seemed destined not to survive his childhood. Orphaned before he was ten, he became a plaything of powerful nobles as one by one his guardians were killed off. Normandy descended into chaos as central authority disappeared and ambitious knights began to carve out their own independent kingdoms. The king of France, looking to exploit the situation, invaded the Duchy seizing castles and encouraging a general revolt. But against all these odds, William somehow triumphed, defying both king and nobility and stamping his authority over his Duchy as few others would. Join Lars Brownworth as he looks at the early career of Normandy's most famous Duke.
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    21 mins
  • Episode 6 - The Two Harolds

    Episode 6 - The Two Harolds
    Apr 14 2010
    England on the eve of the Conquest was torn between the old King Edward the Confessor and the powerful house of Godwin. With no clear heir apparent chosen, a predatory Normandy and the terrifying Harald Hardrada of Norway waited for their chance to seize the throne, while Harold of England tried desperately to keep the peace. As the year 1065 drew to it's close a royal death started a chain of events that would drastically alter the political landscape. Join Lars Brownworth as he looks at the most famous date in English history and the three would-be kings who struggled for the crown.
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    18 mins
  • Episode 7 - After Hastings

    Episode 7 - After Hastings
    May 17 2010
    King Harold wanted nothing more than a peaceful reign, but was destined to spend his time on the throne preparing for war. He had been crowned under the threat of a foreign invasion and had to fend of a major Viking attack in his first summer as king. Now as 1066 drew to a close he got word of the long-awaited Norman landing. Join Lars Brownworth as he looks at the Battle of Hastings and its aftermath.
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    21 mins
  • Episode 8 - William Iron-Arm

    Episode 8 - William Iron-Arm
    May 28 2010
    In Duke Richard II's Normandy an impoverished knight named Tancred de Hauteville struggled to provide for his twelve sons. The eldest of them - William - declined his inheritance and headed to southern Italy to seek his trade as a mercenary. He was the first of the Normans to set foot in Sicily and, under the service of a Byzantine general, he found fame and fortune beyond his wildest hopes. Join Lars Brownworth as he looks at William Iron-Arm, the man who set the foundations of a family legacy that would one day outshine even the Duke of Normandy.
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    16 mins