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0:34

Matilda. Was dead. And.

0:36

Now things are coming apart

0:39

at the seams. The.

0:41

Fact is she appears to have been

0:43

holding the house of Normandy together though

0:45

you wouldn't know that if you just

0:47

relied on or eulogies left by the

0:49

scribes. Church been like ordering

0:51

While writing, these eulogies emphasize the fact

0:54

that she was a good woman. And.

0:56

For them, that meant she was a

0:58

quiet one who was focused on our

1:01

faith. And. By focused on

1:03

our faith, they meant a woman who

1:05

gave the church fat stacks of cash

1:07

on the regular. Now. To

1:09

be clear, I have no reason

1:12

to think that Mathilde it have

1:14

a deep faith in her religion.

1:16

However, when we read these eulogies,

1:18

were reading a curated account of

1:20

a person. The. Scribes were telling

1:22

us that Matilda was a very

1:25

good woman, and to do that,

1:27

they were focusing on what their

1:29

culture defined as a very good

1:31

noble. So we're

1:33

not gonna read about her very

1:35

real impact on the political stage

1:38

when we're reading these eulogies. We

1:40

also boat read about how she

1:42

regularly governed as Regent, nor how

1:44

much William benefited from her connections

1:46

and political clout. We won't read

1:49

about how it was her effort

1:51

and specifically her influence on William

1:53

that appears to have kept this

1:55

dysfunctional family together. Matilda.

1:58

Was likely a good medieval. Noblewoman,

2:01

But he was also a highly skilled

2:03

politician. However, We.

2:05

Have to look elsewhere in the record

2:08

to see those powerful aspects of Matilda

2:10

life. But. Once you know

2:12

where to look, it's very clear

2:14

that Matilda did a lot for

2:16

this family. And now

2:18

she was gone. I. Have no

2:21

doubt that her absence was

2:23

felt deeply in brew won

2:25

in Winchester. But. Unfortunately, we

2:27

don't have any written accounts detailing

2:29

how the royal family was coping.

2:32

Because. Matilda and the boys were needs

2:34

and the quickest way to defeat of

2:36

night is to challenge him to a

2:39

spelling bee. And. While I give

2:41

them a lot of over this. I

2:44

genuinely wish it wasn't the case.

2:46

I want read Williams sad poetry. I

2:49

want to read his Moby Live Journal

2:51

posts. I want access to all of

2:53

the things that he would have produced

2:56

if he was part of our modern

2:58

culture of over sharing. But. That's

3:00

not how it is is, so we just

3:02

have to wonder how he and the boys

3:04

were handling this loss. Because. At

3:06

this point, we're in an informational

3:08

black hole. In. It's actually worse

3:11

than normal. Way. Worse. For

3:13

example, You. May remember that Robert

3:16

just sort of failed on the family

3:18

when Matilda died. Well. There's

3:20

an indication in the records that

3:23

another quarrel had ticked up between

3:25

Robert and his father, King William,

3:27

but there's no detail about it.

3:29

Not how it started, not why

3:31

it started, not even when it

3:34

started. And. While you might be

3:36

inclined to say, well, I mean,

3:38

these were futile Norman's so the

3:40

scribes probably didn't record those details

3:42

because a quarrel between these guys

3:44

was just another day of the

3:46

office. While. i should remind

3:48

you that the last time the

3:50

scribes reported a so called quarrel

3:53

there was in entire civil war

3:55

with in normandy and william was

3:57

nearly killed on the battlefield Norman

4:00

family quarrels are way

4:02

more dangerous than those awkward arguments you

4:04

get into with your uncle on Facebook.

4:08

Normans bicker with swords

4:10

on horseback. And

4:12

speaking of quarreling, another

4:15

fight had actually kicked up shortly

4:17

after Matilda's death. Because

4:19

it turned out that once again, there

4:21

was trouble in Maine. And

4:23

thankfully, unlike what was happening in

4:25

the Royal Family, our favorite 11th

4:28

century gossip order by Talos decided

4:30

to give us a ton of

4:32

juicy details about this conflict. Now

4:35

unfortunately, this is also

4:37

orderic. And at the

4:40

risk of sounding like the critics that pissed him off

4:42

so much, I do need to

4:44

point out that he had some problems in

4:46

his account. Specifically, he

4:48

had some timeline issues. For

4:51

example, he cannot decide if

4:53

this conflict with Maine lasted 3 years

4:55

or 4 years. And

4:59

while that might seem minor, it's

5:01

actually a really big problem because

5:03

if the conflict lasted 4 years,

5:05

then England was ruled by William

5:08

the Lich King who was commanding

5:10

armies from beyond the grave. And

5:13

while that sounds awesome, I'm

5:15

also pretty sure it would have been recorded

5:17

somewhere. So I'm gonna assume that Orderic did

5:19

what we all tend to do while living

5:22

through stressful times and he just

5:24

kinda lost track of time. I

5:26

mean, remember when we couldn't leave our homes

5:28

for 23 years due to

5:30

the pandemic? Man, that

5:32

was a crazy time. So

5:35

yeah, perhaps Orderic's sources were a bit

5:37

like that and it just felt like

5:39

the events were lasting longer than they

5:41

actually were. And in that case, maybe

5:43

this conflict only lasted like 3 years

5:45

or less. But anyway, let's

5:47

get to the conflict. So what happened?

5:50

Well, you can point to a number of

5:52

small political moves and stuff like that, but

5:54

if you take a bigger picture view, you

5:56

see the larger problem. People

5:59

had been protecting the world. protecting William from himself

6:01

for pretty much his entire adult

6:03

life. He was surrounded

6:05

by people who had been doing

6:08

the thankless task of smoothing feathers

6:10

and taking the temperature down. And

6:13

when that didn't work, preparing armies for him.

6:16

But things had changed. Matilda was

6:18

dead. And FitzOsburn was

6:21

dead. And Odo? He

6:23

was in prison. And Robert was

6:25

probably in rebellion. And

6:27

King Philip these days openly hated

6:29

him. And the Count of

6:32

Flanders also hated him. And

6:34

Pope Gregory right now was up to

6:36

his eyeballs and papal crises. Things

6:39

had gotten very bad in the world.

6:41

And most of the people or organizations

6:43

that William could rely on were either

6:46

sick of his nonsense these days or

6:48

were dead. And a good

6:51

indicator of just how bad William's situation

6:53

had become can be found in

6:55

the record of Christmas of 1083. On

6:59

this year, Count Foulke von Jew

7:02

hosted a Christmas party at his estate.

7:05

And in attendance were several

7:07

powerful nobles from Burgundy and

7:09

Maine. Men like Robert

7:11

the Burgundian and Geoffrey de Maen. And

7:14

while I love a good Christmas party, what

7:17

we're seeing here isn't that. This

7:20

is a gathering of nobles who

7:22

were either openly hostile to William

7:24

or who were politically aligned with

7:27

figures who were openly hostile to

7:29

William. We're also at the same

7:31

time seeing a generational turn. William

7:34

was no longer the young upstart. Nor

7:36

were his companions, you know, what was left

7:38

of them. Making matters

7:41

worse, Count Foulke von Jew was

7:43

in many ways a younger version

7:45

of William. And one

7:47

of the aging conqueror's main rivals.

7:50

So this party was not great news

7:52

for the House of Normandy. And

7:55

remember, these were medieval nobles,

7:58

which meant that their holidays were less

8:00

like the Hallmark Channel and

8:02

much more, well, medieval.

8:06

So it's very likely there wasn't much

8:08

partying at this Christmas party and it

8:11

was more of a preliminary marshalling of

8:13

forces. You know, the

8:15

preparations for a campaign. And

8:17

if William caught word of this Christmas party, either

8:20

curing what they were planning or

8:22

just worrying that they were getting

8:24

together and might plan something, the

8:27

anxiety and Rouen and the concerns

8:29

about his numerous enemies would

8:31

have been quite hot. I

8:33

mean, what exactly were they up to over there? And

8:37

that brings us to one

8:39

particular French noble. And

8:41

of course, his name was

8:43

Hubert because there were only

8:45

like six names in all of France.

8:48

And this Hubert was the Vicon

8:50

of Maine. And that meant

8:53

he had a lot of power in the

8:55

region that William was still trying to exert

8:57

control over. And critically,

8:59

Hubert held land sitting between

9:02

William and the influential city

9:04

of Le Mans in Maine. Even

9:06

worse for William, Hubert had been

9:09

one of the bastards main rivals back

9:11

in the 1060s and

9:13

early 1070s. So

9:15

he was already someone that William was

9:17

probably not too trusting of. And

9:20

then right in the middle of all

9:22

of this mess, while shady, Angevin Christmas

9:24

parties were going on, Orderic

9:26

reports that following the death

9:29

of Matilda, Vicon Hubert just

9:31

up and rebelled. And he

9:33

wasn't rebelling for freedom from

9:35

William, nor justice, nor

9:37

any sort of independence. No,

9:41

Orderic tells us that

9:43

Hubert rebelled because William

9:45

had offended him. Specifically,

9:48

he says that Hubert, quote,

9:50

gave umbrage to the king

9:52

at first on some trivial

9:55

occasions, end quote. Basically, William

9:57

did something rude and

9:59

Hubert overreacted, which checks

10:02

out. And then, rather

10:05

than calming down, we're told Hubert proceeded

10:07

to get more and more upset and

10:09

heaped on a bunch of other complaints

10:11

on top of it, which

10:13

also checks out. These

10:16

were after all 11th century feudal

10:18

nobles. And we're told

10:20

that Hubert was so mad at William

10:22

that he took his soldiers and his

10:25

resources out of his castles at Beaumont

10:27

and Fournai and plonked them down in

10:29

his castle at Saint-Dusanne. So

10:32

now it wasn't just a castle, it

10:34

was a base camp for his campaign. And

10:37

this wasn't just Hubert and some soldiers. The

10:40

guy also brought his wife and all his

10:42

other followers with him to that castle. And

10:44

probably for good reason. Because here's

10:47

orderic. Quote, the

10:49

fortress in which he took refuge stands

10:51

on a high rock above the river

10:54

Erve, on the borders of Maine and

10:56

Anjou. So

10:59

strategically and tactically, Saint-Dusanne

11:02

was a beast. And

11:04

once Hubert flew his flag of rebellion,

11:07

other people in Maine began to take up

11:09

his cause. Why? Well,

11:12

probably because they weren't all that

11:14

thrilled with Norman domination. But

11:17

orderic's take on the cause is too good

11:19

to skip. So here's what he has to

11:21

say about the people of Maine. Quote, a

11:24

people of naturally unsettled temper and

11:26

ever ready to disturb the peace

11:28

of others and disquiet

11:30

themselves by their love of change

11:33

flew in arms against the king

11:35

and occasions great expenditure and damage

11:38

on their own state as

11:40

well as many others. Which

11:43

I think you'll agree has a very

11:45

they hate us for our freedoms vibe.

11:48

But it's quite clear that as far

11:50

as orderic was concerned, this rebellion had

11:53

nothing to do with William or the

11:55

Normans and the people of Maine were

11:57

just unstable and chaotic. And

11:59

so... Once Hubert and his

12:01

army were entrenched in their castle, you know,

12:04

hating stability, they decided

12:06

to launch attacks upon the Normans. And

12:09

they didn't have to go to the border of Normandy to

12:11

do it. Norman's soldiers were

12:13

stationed throughout Maine as an

12:15

occupying force, or as

12:17

order it phrases it, "'Guarding

12:19

the country of Maine.'" Which was

12:22

very thoughtful of them. And

12:24

as Hubert and his men were attacking their

12:27

guards, it became quickly

12:30

apparent that they were very, very good

12:32

at this. We're told

12:34

that they made regular incursions into

12:36

Norman controlled territory, and the boldness

12:38

of their tactics really started

12:41

to freak out the Norman garrisons. And

12:43

before long, they were begging the king

12:45

to come to their aid. Now,

12:49

as you no doubt have gathered, I

12:51

really don't buy the idea that this

12:53

was just a group of chaotic, apolitical

12:55

people launching a blind rebellion due to

12:57

their love of change. I

12:59

don't even believe that the rebellion was inspired

13:01

by a trivial insult. I

13:04

mean, we're not even told what

13:06

the supposed insult was. And I

13:09

think that's because it didn't really matter. I

13:12

suspect that Hubert's claim of hurt

13:14

feelings over an insult was just

13:17

pretext. I think Hubert

13:19

was looking to kick off a broader

13:21

war with William because that was the

13:23

plan all along. Remember

13:25

Count Folk's Christmas celebration and how

13:29

there were nobles from Maine, Burgundy,

13:31

and elsewhere in attendance? Well,

13:33

funny story. When Hubert

13:36

rebelled, guess who started

13:38

showing up to his castle at Saint-Sousanne?

13:41

Quote, Knights from Aquitaine,

13:44

Burgundy, and other provinces of

13:46

France. End quote. What

13:49

an odd coincidence! And

13:51

the speed at which this whole

13:53

thing goes off the rails is

13:55

breathtaking. Matilda died in

13:58

early November of 1083. Folks

14:01

Christmas celebration was about two

14:03

months later and by early

14:05

January of 1084 we're

14:07

talking like weeks after that Christmas

14:10

party we have evidence in

14:12

the charters that suggests that William's

14:14

army was on the move likely

14:17

to defend against this rebellion and

14:20

this was a big army. Orderic

14:22

tells us that William mustered his

14:24

troops for Normandy and then added

14:26

to them any people from Maine

14:28

who remained loyal to him. On

14:31

top of that when we look at

14:33

the charters from this period which were likely

14:35

drawn up during the army's advance we

14:38

see the presence of major

14:40

military figures including William's half-brother

14:42

Robert of Mortain as well

14:45

as his sons William Rufus

14:48

and Robert Kurtos and

14:50

you did hear that right. It

14:53

appears that the king's firstborn son

14:55

had rejoined court at least for

14:57

a bit and that makes sense

14:59

when you think about it. After all

15:01

Robert did want to inherit one day

15:03

and if his dad lost some territory

15:06

in one of these squabbles that

15:08

wouldn't do Robert any good but

15:10

ultimately when we look at these records we

15:12

get the impression that this conflict broke out

15:14

very quickly and William responded

15:17

soon thereafter. I

15:19

mean even if the charters are a coincidence

15:21

and the fighting didn't start until the

15:23

campaigning season this thing

15:26

still happened pretty fast and

15:28

so at least by spring and

15:31

probably by January of 1084 William

15:34

was in the field ready to

15:36

deal with Hubert so the

15:38

fight was on. Now

15:40

under normal circumstances when

15:42

facing off with an enemy boarded up

15:45

inside a castle and launching attacks from

15:47

within you would expect

15:49

William to surround Saint-Sousanne with siege

15:51

castles and keep Robert's

15:54

forces contained inside. Once

15:56

the castle was surrounded then we'd expect him

15:58

to either bring the structure down or

16:01

just starve Hubert out. We

16:03

see William do this many times in the

16:05

past, and we've even seen him do this

16:08

when his enemy was using essentially nature as

16:10

his castle, as was the case

16:12

with Harroward and the Rebels of Ely. And

16:14

because something like that takes a long time,

16:17

after the castle was surrounded, you'd expect

16:19

him to go and ravage any nearby communities

16:21

that were linked to that enemy. It's

16:24

a one-two punch that worked very well

16:26

for William, and there

16:28

were in fact nearby communities that

16:30

fit the bill, like

16:32

Sabla and Crone. But

16:35

William didn't do any of that. Instead,

16:38

he just established an earthwork encampment to

16:41

the north of St. Suzanne, which

16:43

was called Lacombe de Bougie. I'm

16:46

not kidding by the way, and from now

16:48

on, that's what I'm calling glamping. But

16:50

once established at Lacombe de Bougie,

16:52

which literally translates to the Bougie

16:55

Camp, William made no

16:57

efforts to establish further encampments or

16:59

siege castles to the south of

17:02

St. Suzanne, which is what he

17:04

would have needed if he wanted to

17:06

cut Hubert off. He didn't

17:08

even attack Sabla or Crone. Instead,

17:12

the Norman force at the Bougie Camp

17:14

just stayed to the north of Hubert

17:16

and tried to hamper his efforts to

17:18

penetrate further into Norman controlled territory. Orderic

17:22

even tells us specifically that William

17:24

had no intent to use his

17:26

Bougie Camp to directly assault St.

17:29

Suzanne, which obviously raises

17:31

the question of why. Well,

17:35

Orderic doesn't tell us, but

17:37

it seems quite likely that William realized

17:39

that this conflict was resting on a

17:41

knife's edge, and that Count

17:43

Folk and his friends would love an

17:45

excuse to get involved. Historian

17:48

David Bates argues that William, by

17:50

taking a defensive posture here rather than

17:53

going on an all out offensive, and

17:55

also by not moving south and thus

17:57

closer to Folk and his friends, may

18:00

have been trying to keep this

18:02

fight strictly between him and Hubert.

18:05

Basically, William was refusing to

18:07

take the bait. And as

18:09

for why he wasn't directly assaulting Hubert's

18:11

castle, well, Ordering tells us

18:14

that it was pretty much impregnable thanks

18:16

to its position on the rocks, and

18:18

also because it was surrounded by a

18:20

dense thicket of vineyards. And

18:23

strategically, not attacking is probably

18:25

the right call here. I mean, if

18:27

his entire force was torn to shreds,

18:29

that probably would please folk to no

18:31

end. So it looks like

18:34

William decided to opt for a strategy of

18:36

containment. But even though he was

18:38

just keeping this conflict between him and Hubert,

18:41

the fact was, this was

18:43

a very expensive conflict. Keeping

18:46

an army of that size in the

18:48

field meant that there were far fewer

18:50

hands tending the fields back home. Furthermore,

18:54

all those soldiers needed to be fed

18:56

and cared for. And then there

18:58

was also the matter of payment. Soldiers,

19:00

especially higher ranked ones, would be

19:02

expecting some sort of reward at

19:04

the end of this. Also,

19:07

as we know all too well by now, keeping

19:10

this many knights altogether was certain

19:12

to create all manner of problems

19:15

if you didn't keep them entertained.

19:18

I mean, even when knights were entertained,

19:20

they still managed to do things like

19:22

kick off wars by peeing on each

19:24

other. So at the very least,

19:27

you'd probably want to set up rudimentary

19:29

tournaments or other sorts of war games

19:31

to keep the knights happy and distracted.

19:33

And that also would cost money. Basically,

19:37

William was bleeding cash here.

19:41

But no worries, he always had

19:43

his ATM on hand. And

19:45

right on cue, the Chronicle tells us that in

19:48

1084, as he was waging this war, William

19:53

imposed, quote, a great and

19:55

heavy tax, end quote. John

19:57

of Worcester tells us that William demanded, quote, quote,

20:00

six shillings from every hide of

20:02

land throughout England, end quote. He

20:05

was hitting the English with a big blanket

20:07

tax. Now it should

20:09

be noted that we have no indication that William

20:12

came to England in 1084. So

20:15

chances are this tax was imposed upon

20:17

the English by a messenger rather than

20:19

directly by the king. So

20:22

he didn't leave the battlefield to personally issue an

20:24

adjustment to your 1040EZ. But

20:27

regardless of whether or not the king

20:29

did it personally, the English suddenly found

20:31

themselves having to tighten their belts once

20:33

again to fund one

20:35

of William's endless problems on the

20:37

continent. And speaking of

20:39

problems on the continent, down

20:41

in Rome, Pope Gregory was still having

20:44

problems of his own. And I'm going

20:46

to try and keep this brief. So

20:49

King Henry of Germany was still pissed

20:51

at Greg and he had all of

20:53

that money from the Byzantine emperor for

20:55

the express purpose of kicking the bejesus

20:57

out of the Pope, as well as

21:00

his Norman friend, Robert Giscard. And

21:02

so lately, Henry had been trying to bring

21:04

his army over the mountains to Rome, you

21:07

know, so he could get the job done. Now

21:09

unfortunately for Henry, between him

21:12

and Rome, like Countess Matilda

21:14

of Tuscany. And Countess

21:16

Matilda was an incredible military

21:19

medieval leader and also an

21:21

ally of Pope Gregory. There's

21:23

actually way too much to get into with her,

21:25

but there are two things of note regarding Matilda

21:27

of Tuscany that you should know. One,

21:30

she was obviously solid marriage material

21:33

and Robert Curtose had noticed this.

21:36

Stick a pin in that one. And

21:39

second, she and her

21:41

armies had been almost single-handedly keeping

21:43

Henry out of Rome. So

21:45

eventually, Henry was forced to try a

21:47

different route, a non-Matilda

21:50

of Tuscany route. And

21:52

only then was he finally able to reach

21:54

the city. Rome surrendered

21:56

and the Pope locked himself inside the

21:59

mausoleum of Hadrian. Syrian. And.

22:01

It was from here the Gregory and

22:03

Henry began to argue over terms. Henry.

22:06

One of the Pope, the crown I'm emperor. And.

22:09

The pope one and henry to drop

22:11

dead. Henry. Spiced up the

22:13

offer and said that he would

22:15

betray his ally anti Pope Clement,

22:17

and hand them over to Gregory.

22:19

If only the Pope would just

22:22

go around him. emperor. But.

22:24

The Pope would still pretty happy with

22:26

his initial offer have dropped dead. Mother

22:29

was some more wrangling the went on here, but

22:31

that's basically the gist of it. And

22:34

while all that was going on, a

22:36

Council of Bishops was convened at the

22:38

Pope's requests. And guess what happened? Yet.

22:42

Be excommunicated. Henry again.

22:45

And apparently this was the

22:47

final goddamn straw for Henry.

22:49

So he entered Rome again

22:51

and in March of Ten

22:53

Eighty Four, he established anti

22:55

Pope Clement the Third as

22:57

new Pope. Clement the Third.

22:59

And then Clement now promoted

23:02

immediately crowned Henry as Emperor.

23:04

And while all of this was going

23:06

on, Gregory was reaching out to his

23:08

allies for help. And shortly

23:10

after, Clement and Henry gave

23:13

each other promotions that old

23:15

Normand adventurer Robert Discard appeared

23:17

along with his merry band

23:20

of bastards. And. There were

23:22

a lot of them because new

23:24

Emperor Henry was forced to run

23:26

from the city. No. Unfortunately, the

23:28

people of Rome had enough of

23:31

Gregory's chaos by this point. And

23:33

inviting a Cd Norman adventurer and

23:35

is Cd Norman army into the

23:37

cities with the last nail in

23:40

the coffin of Gregory's public opinion.

23:42

Numbers. So. Realizing he

23:44

very well might find himself torn

23:46

apart by an angry mob, Gregory

23:49

also fled the city. He.

23:51

First took refuge in Monte Cassino,

23:53

and then later at Salerno. And

23:56

the reason why I'm still calling

23:58

Gregory Gregory and not Hilda. And

24:00

is because he never gave up his

24:02

people name. Nor. Title. Even

24:05

when he was in exile, you still

24:07

insisted he was Pope Gregory the seventh.

24:10

And that meant there were still two

24:12

men who were claiming to be the

24:14

real Pope. And I've got news for

24:16

you. Even. After Gregory dies,

24:19

there will still be two men

24:21

claiming to be the real pope

24:23

because his faction flat refuse to

24:26

accept Clement and so they elected

24:28

their own pope instead. And.

24:30

When that one died, be

24:32

selected another, and then when

24:34

that one died, be selected

24:36

yet another. This.

24:38

Faction never accepted new Pope

24:41

Clement, even after he was

24:43

outliving a surprising number of

24:45

other pope's. And. Actually,

24:47

even after Pope Clement the

24:50

third, died, he still wouldn't

24:52

be accepted. About. A

24:54

century later when Paolo Scolari was elected

24:56

Pope and he said he wanted to

24:59

be known as Pope Clement. He.

25:01

Became the second Pope

25:03

Clement, the third. Because.

25:06

As far as the church was concerned

25:08

that first Pope Clement a third wasn't

25:10

a real pope, He was

25:12

at best anti Pope Clement,

25:15

or really just winners. So.

25:18

That's what's going on in Rome. I

25:20

guess they just really loved chaos and

25:22

change. Me: While back to

25:24

the bougie camp, William was no

25:27

longer commanding the army. Instead.

25:30

Allen Rufus was in charge. Now,

25:33

over the last few years,

25:35

Rufus had become fantastic. The

25:37

wealthy. In fact, when the

25:39

Doomsday Book is recorded about a year from

25:41

now, we'll see that he is one of

25:43

the richest and most powerful men in England.

25:46

Lagging. Behind only the King's half

25:48

brother Robert have more time and

25:51

the King's himself and didn't Williams

25:53

court that kind of well with

25:55

the result of being very high

25:57

in the king's personalise steam. So.

26:00

We to be sure that William wasn't just

26:02

leaving some rando in charge of the siege.

26:04

He was leaving this campaign in the

26:07

hands of one of his most trusted

26:09

commanders. But. Setting aside the

26:11

interpersonal element here, Allen was also

26:13

a wise choice on his own

26:16

merits. The. Fact was that

26:18

you for its possessions, were quite

26:20

close to Brittany. Which. Meant

26:22

that Allen, as a proton noble,

26:24

had a direct stake in this.

26:27

And. Beyond that, Allen, by being

26:30

not, William was probably able

26:32

to handle regional matters and

26:34

diplomatic efforts involving figures outside

26:36

of Normandy. Far better than

26:39

the Bastard Good. So. Leaving

26:41

him in charge makes a lot of sense,

26:43

But as for why he was in charge?

26:45

Well, it turns out. The king

26:47

was needed elsewhere. Now. Order

26:50

It doesn't tell us why the king

26:52

was needed. But. He does tell

26:54

us that it was urgent. And.

26:57

When we look at other records, I

26:59

don't think he was wrong. This.

27:01

Was urgent. Do.

27:03

You remember Swain s reason. You.

27:06

Know the King of Denmark and extended family

27:08

member of the Godwin since you've launched if

27:10

you failed invasions. Or

27:14

he died back in Ten Seventy

27:16

Six and his first born son,

27:18

Herald, took the throne. But then

27:20

Herald died four years later without

27:22

any children. And so the throne

27:24

went to sweep second born son.

27:26

Knute. Who. Became King

27:28

Canute the fourth of Denmark in

27:30

ten eighty. And. Along with the

27:33

kingdom, to also inherited his dad's

27:35

ambitions to become King of England.

27:38

And. Chances are word of to Nudes

27:40

ambitions had been circulating for several

27:42

years by now. But.

27:45

A goal without a plan is

27:47

just a wish. So. No

27:49

problem there. Well. Actually,

27:53

Something. Of a big problem. Because.

27:55

Knute was actually a planner. and

27:58

he was making plans to make good

28:00

on his wish. The thing

28:02

is that Canute's dad, Swain, had relied

28:04

far too much on gaining local support

28:07

for his dream invasion. That's

28:09

why his invasion forces were actually kind of small.

28:12

First he tried to invade with a fleet of 300 ships,

28:15

and then on the second attempt it was just

28:17

200 ships. And while

28:19

they might have been able to pull that off with local

28:21

support, they squandered it

28:23

and actually betrayed their Northumbrian

28:25

allies. And betrayals like

28:27

that have knock-on effects. And

28:29

as such, there was just no way

28:31

that Canute, as his father's son, was

28:34

going to be able to gather much

28:36

local support for his planned invasion. And

28:39

that's assuming that he'd even be able to

28:41

find someone living up there, which he probably

28:43

wouldn't. So yeah, there's no way

28:45

he'd be able to rely on English support. He'd

28:48

have to find others who were interested in joining

28:50

his venture. Others

28:52

who really wanted to stick it to

28:54

William. And Count Robert

28:56

of Flanders was perfect for this.

29:00

This guy absolutely f***ing hated

29:02

William. And now that

29:04

his sister, Matilda, was dead, there

29:06

was very little that was holding him back

29:08

anymore. And he had ships.

29:12

And so, Canute IV was

29:14

hard at work in Denmark, assembling

29:16

a fleet of over 1,000 ships. And

29:21

over in Flanders, Count Robert

29:23

was hard at work, gathering his own

29:25

fleet of 600 ships. It

29:29

was time for a little chaos and change. All

29:33

aboard the bruise cruise! If

29:36

you have any questions, comments, or concerns, you

29:38

can reach me at thebritishhistorypodcasts.com And

29:41

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