2.1 - 23 The Normans and Angevins 1066 - 1217
The History of England
00:00
The Rise and Fall of William the Great
By the end of William's reign, all the major positions are held by Normans. There are no English elves left. The major landowners are overwhelmingly Norman. This is a topic we'll come back to in more depth later - but it's not immediately obvious that this was William's original intention. He wanted to ring as much money as possible from England to feed his avarice. But within those parameters, the sides are that he intended to reach an accommodation and balance between his English and Norman lords. In fact the leading English elves find him possible to serve their new master, and in his turn William was to find him deeply untrustworthy.
Transcript
Play full episode
