Greetings!  I hope that the day is going well for you or has gone well for you depending on when you are reading this.  Today is a documentary on the Wars of the Roses.  It has been floating around for a while.  It is part of a series called Britain’s Bloody Crown and it his hosted by Dan Jones.  This episode is called The Mad King and it has a runtime of 45:09

King Henry VI goes down in history as one of England’s weakest Kings.  His weakness causes a wound that festers and opens up again.  His advisor the Duke of Suffolk is killed and this leads to uprisings.  Rebels storm London but he is a man who gives the mob what he wants to try to placate him.  Lord Saye, the corrupt treasurer is tried in a kangaroo court and is executed by the mob.  England is descending into chaos and London’s mayor is left to deal with the rebels. 

The rebels are put down by the Lord Mayor.  Into the fray steps in Queen Margaret.  She offers any rebel pardon and many have the good sense to accept her pardon.  The others are gathered and executed.  Queen Margaret had the backbone to make firm and ruthless decisions.  The recreation shows her firm determination and the King’s covering his face while the men are executed.  Queen Margaret had the example of her mother who ran Anjou when her father was captured.

Margaret had arrived in England at 15 to an imbecile husband.  She needs to act decisively to protect her husband and the country.  However, Richard, Duke of York the heir to the throne also sees the King’s weakness.  He is ruling Ireland and he returns to England to support the King.  Queen Margaret would not appreciate this interference and she makes her displeasure known.  The Duke of York approaches his offer like the bull in a China shop.  His offer goes down like a lead balloon.

The King had appointed the Duke of Somerset as a helper.  However, he was a failure as a military leader and often was blamed for the chaos England was in.  The Duke of York did not appreciate the Duke of Somerset's interference and he made his displeasure well known.  That said, the Duke of Somerset is an ally of Queen Margaret and by attacking the Duke of Somerset, the Duke of York was attacking the Queen.  Both Queen Margaret and the Duke of York want the best for England.  Margaret’s position is strengthened with the birth of Prince Edward.

Unfortunately, King Henry VI descends into a catatonic state.  A power vacuum develops and Queen Margaret appoints the Duke of Somerset as the baby prince’s godfather.  She calls a great council in order to stamp her son’s place as heir to the throne.  Queen Margaret wants to rule England through both Somerset and in the name of her son.  However, with the king out of commission, the Duke of York acts quickly.  The Duke of Somerset is thrown into prison and Queen Margaret is thrown out of power.

Queen Margaret acts and Dan Jones goes over a document that she issued.  She wanted to rule England, and she had the inspiration of her mother.  Unfortunately, the English nobles did not want to be governed by a woman, let alone a French woman.  The English Nobles appoint the Duke of York as protector of the realm.  He does a good job at it; however, it would seem that his ego was going to get in the way.  Queen Margaret is furious to be left out of power.  It would have been a good time for the Duke of York…

Then King Henry wakes up…so what will happen as a result of him waking up?  Will England descend into chaos again?  What will happen to Somerset?  What will happen to York?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

This is a very well-done docudrama about the start of the Wars of the Roses.  I also like Dan Jones’ style of narration.  He is a very good speaker.  This is also a very good overview of the start of the Wars of the Roses.  This would be a documentary I would use for research and would show it to a high school history class.

Good morning, good afternoon or good evening depending on when you are reading this and doing your planning.  Well teachers, we have made it into 2026!  In the past, I have tried to start off the year with Ancient World Documentaries in preparation for the following school year.  I decided to change it up a bit and just follow my Documentary Review Playlist.  This is an older documentary, so here goes nothing.  The runtime for this documentary is 55:05.  It is called Life in Anglo-Saxon Britain.

In Anglo-Saxon England, the people were farmers and lived off the land.  They were able to make ploughs and tools to help with farming.  Wheat would be ground into flour and they would make bread.  On top of bread making they were skilled craftsman who made jewelry.  However, their way of life continues to be a mystery to historians.  So who were the Anglo-Saxons?  How did they live?  What were their laws?

The Anglo-Saxon period was defined by the invasions of the British Isles in early British History.  They were considered the first people who would eventually be called Englishmen.  Ian Woods, a professor talks about who the Anglo-Saxons were.  Bede talks about where the Anglo-Saxons originated, however the archeological record is changing how Anglo-Saxons are defined.

The documentary then shifts to the Houlgate Village, Anglo-Saxon living history museum that historians have organized to help learn more about these people.  Dave Thirwall talks about the history of the village.  The village is based on a settlement from the Dark Ages and looks at the lives of ordinary people.  The village was created to teach history and is based on what the archeologists found about the Anglo-Saxon period.  Thousands of children come to the village to learn more about this period and it is here that I learn the documentary comes from 1995.  So far, it is a good documentary for being from 1995. The Houlgate Village has plans to expand, which I am sure they will in light of the new discoveries being made about the Anglo-Saxon Period.

The next piece of history discussed is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.  These are a series of manuscripts that discuss the Anglo-Saxon period.  Woods talks about how the document was organized and put together as a result of a political crisis.  The Vikings had invaded Britain and Alfred the Great had to bring the people together to fight the Vikings.  Woods talks about how some passages could be easily be discounted while others talk about battles that were recorded and whether or not the battles took place when they did, where they did.  For some reason Woods rubbed me the wrong way, but I have put in thousands of hours of documentary watching over the years.  I have found there is always a kernel of truth to some of the story that have passed down over the years.

Thirwall talks about the Anglo-Saxon Settlements and what they consists of, which reminds me of the Time Team and the excavations they did.  I almost wish Uncle Mick would have taken part of this documentary.  This documentary would have been filmed after Time Team started airing.  I wonder what a documentary about Anglo-Saxon life looks like now?  Thirwall talks about the construction of the buildings of the Anglo-Saxon settlements.  Woods then goes to talk about the Law of the Anglo-Saxons.  So what else do Thirwall and Woods talk about in regards to the Anglo-Saxon people?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

This documentary was a good outline for the Anglo-Saxon period.  It goes back and forth between Woods and Thirwall.  Woods talks about the history of the area, whereas Thirwall talks about the village and objects that the Anglo-Saxon would have used.  It was rather interesting to learn about the village and how it is one giant historical experiment.  It just reminds you that history and science go together.  I would be curious to see a redo of this documentary now in light of discoveries from the Anglo-Saxon Period.  Even though it is very dated, I would put this on a potential to show list because it is a good outline of the Anglo-Saxon people.

Hello all, I hope that you folks are doing very well.  I hope that you working on your plans.  Well, it has been a while since I did a documentary on Royal History, so today I am going to do such a documentary.  It has been sitting on my documentary review list, so I want to knock it down.  I am not sure how it will go, so here it goes!  Today I am going to look at a documentary about the Normans and how they came to rule England.  The run time for this documentary is 45:26.  It is called the Normans and it is part of the Kings and Queens of England.

It was the year 1066 and it would become the turning point in English History.  William, the Duke of Normandy led his troops into battle at Hastings to take the throne of England.  It would have been the end of Anglo-Saxon rule in England.  For the next 150 years, England would be ruled by the Norman Kings.  This documentary follows the story of William I, Henry I, and Stephen.  Then it follows the story of Henry II, Richard, and King John.

Alan Ereira introduces the story of the English crown.  He talks about the battle of Hastings at the start of the documentary.  It was here that William the Conqueror and his troops defeated Harold.  He took the English throne for himself.  He transitions to the Bayeux Tapestry which is the story of how William the Conqueror came to England to become king.  William was a warrior and was willing to fight to keep what he had.  He made Harold swear to promise to support him in his quest to become King of England.

Harold did not keep his promise, after Edward the Confessor died, he had himself elected king.  William believes that Harold has broken his promise would invade.  Harold Hardrada, a Norwegian king with a link to the English throne would also invade.  Harold had to fight for his throne.  He would defeat the Norwegian king.  Harold would rush south but would be defeated at Hastings. 

William the Conqueror would march to London and would be crowned King.  He would stamp his authority on England.  He would seize private property.  The people at York would rebel against him and William the Conqueror would severely punish the inhabitants.  York in the years after this punishment was still devastated.  The church would become Norman.  He would kill the monks who refused to follow him.

The Normans would be challenged because they did not speak the language of their new people.  They would have to rely on the English to govern.  William would have to learn to request the English traditions.  He would have to promise to uphold the laws of Edward the Confessor.  Eventually, William the Conqueror died and he named his younger son William Rufus as king.  His oldest Robert would have been named the Duke of Normandy.  His youngest son, Henry would be given 5,000 pounds.  The brothers would not be content with what they had.  They fought each other.  Robert would eventually go on a crusade. 

William Rufus would plunder the church and eventually, he would be assassinated.  Henry would seize the throne of England.  He put himself forward as king.  Some people balked at this wannabe king, but he pushed his claim displacing his older brother from the throne.  It would be the first elected English king since King Harold.  Robert would try to challenge Henry’s claim to the throne.  However, he was bought off with a pension.  Henry would eventually invade Normandy and would imprison his brother.  To learn more about the Normans and how they ruled England continue to watch the rest of this documentary.

Alan Ereire is a very different narrator in comparison to David Starkey or Lucy Worsley.  I think Lucy owes us a good documentary on the Kings and Queens of England now.  Anyway, it would have been nice to have this episode divided into chapters to make it easier to pull segments out.  It was an older documentary, but the information was very good.  It would be interesting to see a newer documentary with new information.  I would put this on my potential documentaries to show to a history class.

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, depending on when you are reading this and doing your planning.  I hope that you are doing well as well.  Today I am going to do a documentary on Wallis Simpson.  The run time for this documentary is 51:16.  The documentary is called Wallis Simpson: The Secret Letters.

Wallis Simpson would find herself in the center of a national scandal.  She was accused of ensnaring Edward VIII and luring him away from the English throne.  However, this documentary has revealed a cache of fifteen secret letters.  These were written by Wallis Simpson and they were written at the time of abdication.  These cache letters reveal a different side to Wallis Simpson.  The letters were discovered in an attic and show a woman who longed to hide away from the world.

It was billed as one of the greatest love stories in history.  She was one-half of one of the greatest romances.  This is the story of a man who left everything for the love of a woman.  However, it was the woman who would realize that she was in a no-win situation.  Wallis’ biographer Anna Sebba discovered the cache of letters and this is where the story begins.
Wallis Simpson was making her way back to her home after a day in court.  She was being driven in a car sent by the king.  You would think that she would be celebrating the fact she was divorcing her husband, however, she puts pen to paper with the man she was divorcing.  It was an unlikely shoulder to cry on.  She was terrified of what was to come in the future.  The divorce continued to press on and it was splashed all over American newspapers.

The documentary then shifts to a discussion on the abdication and the divorce.  Events would have moved quickly after the divorce to the abdication.  Government officials as well as the British people would not accept the divorced Wallis as Queen.  The Government and King Edward VIII were heading towards a collision course.  It was during this time that the Crystal Palace burned down at this time, perhaps a reflection of the coming firestorm.

On the day of the Crystal Palace fire, Wallis would have written to her ex-husband telling him that she wanted to go away.  The story would have finally broken in the British press.  She was now firmly in the King’s hands and could not leave by her choice.  Wallis was sent to France and away from the King.  During this time, Wallis would have pleaded with the king not to abdicate and marry her.  However, King Edward VIII would not be deterred.  She made one last attempt to escape marrying Edward, but it was too late.

Wallis was now facing a life sentence with Edward.  During this time, she would have realized that she had loved Ernest Simpson.  Edward VIII abdicated and retreated to Austria, while Wallis remained in France.  She continued to reach out to Ernest Simpson, the man she truly loved for a man whom she would come to resent.  As Wallis sat in her villa, she would use the time to reflect on Ernest Simpson.  Then the documentary shifts to Wallis’ childhood and how she craved security.
She would marry Ernest Simpson and they would make their way and settle in England.  Wallis would be thrown into high circles.  One of those contacts would eventually put her in the path of King Edward VIII.  He enjoyed the way she treated him.  Ernest enjoyed Wallis’ connection to Edward.  Ernest’s grandnephew talks about how Ernest admired the tweed that Edward was wearing and Edward gave him the leftover material.  So Ernest had an overcoat made of the tweed which survives.  This was a funny story that was mentioned in the documentary.

The documentary continues with the story of Wallis Simpson and the letter she left behind.  She was a woman who enjoyed her time with the King.  She looked forward to the day when Edward would turn his attention towards a younger woman.  To learn more about Wallis Simpson, continue to watch the rest of the documentary.

This was a fantastic documentary and reveals a different side to the story of the abdication.  This would be a good documentary for research purposes.

Hello, good morning and I hope that this day is going well for you.  Today I am going to do a documentary on the Wars of the Roses.  I am going to explore the mastermind of the Wars of the Roses: Queen Margaret.  The run time for the documentary is 49:20.  It is called the Wars of the Roses: The Rose of Rouen.

The feud between the houses of York and Lancaster finally comes to an end.  The struggle for power continues to escalate.  The Battle of St. Albans rocked English nobility.  The Duke of York takes control of England as protector and defender, however, Queen Margaret would not let this happen standing still.  Queen Margaret was a foreigner in the English court.  She was a woman who took power at a time when women did not take power.  However, she was a woman who was willing to defend her and her husband’s rights.  Why did she become the center of War of the Roses?

The battle of St. Albans would have settled things politically and there was a period of peace in England.  The nobility would be willing to work with the Duke of York.  That said there was a small minority that was opposed to the Duke of York and they would look to get revenge.  1455 would continue on, and the Duke of York and the Neville family would remain in power.  The Duke of York sought to legitimize his position as the protector of England.  The nobility was reluctant, but with the threat of war looming, the nobles agreed to the position.

However, there was another pressing matter that the Duke of York wanted to pursue: Calais.  The garrison that was stationed there was not getting paid.  The garrison would steal wool to get paid.  Eventually, a solution was reached and the garrison was paid.  The Earl of Warwick was appointed garrison commander.  However, York’s position declined, when the King recovered his health.  The Duke of York was removed from his position and he became king in both name and deed once again.  In the midst of the battles, Queen Margaret had developed a deep hatred for the Duke.

Teasing out the real Queen Margaret can be a challenge.  She has come down in history as a wanton woman who behaved like a man.  She would do anything to remove York’s influence from the King.  She had grown up in France where the nobles were willing to stand up against their king.  She saw the Duke of York as a threat because he could potentially claim the throne for himself.  She would fight to keep her husband on the throne as well as the rights of her son Edward to inherit the throne.

In celebration of the new peace, the King had organized a Love festival where both York and Lancaster would join together hand in hand.  However, there was a thread of cynicism with the festival goers.  The King was useless.  The Queen was willing to work against the Yorkists in the interests of her son.  The situation was volatile and that volatility would eventually explode.  Queen Margaret would use the tension to goad the Earl of Warwick to open rebellion.  So the war was on, and Queen Margaret would gather her forces to fight against the Duke of York and his supporters.  In September 1459, the Yorks and the Lancasters would clash again.  Who would emerge from this clash?  How would Margaret continue to maneuver her way through English Politics?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

My first impression was that this is an older documentary on the Wars of the Roses.  The film quality was not very great.  Some of the imagery in the documentary struck me as very cheesy.  The historians were very good at providing additional context to the times of the Wars of the Roses.  It was refreshing to see that a documentary was actually about the subject.  Over all, I found this documentary very good and the information was very well done.  I would show this documentary to a history class and I would use this as a starting point to do research on Queen Margaret.

Good morning, good evening, or good afternoon depending on when you are reading this.  Today I am going to do a documentary on the Wars of the Roses.  The Earl of Warwick was a big figure in the Wars of the Roses.  The run time for this documentary is 49:24.  The documentary is part of the Wars of the Roses series and is called The Kingmaker. 

The Wars of the Roses continues to rage on when King Edward IV from the House of York secures the throne with the help of the Earl of Warwick.  King Henry VI sought refuge in Scotland.  However, this uneasy peace is short-lived.  Only one family can emerge.  Both sides seek to get into the good graces of the Earl of Warwick.  He was the most powerful man in England behind the King of England.  So what went wrong?

The story begins with a focus on the Earl of Warwick, who would become known to history as the Kingmaker.  He was also the best mate of King Edward IV.  He played a large role in the Wars of the Roses.  King Edward IV from the House of York would have cut a dashing figure in comparison to King Henry VI.  King Edward would have been the ideal king.  He was six foot and devastatingly handsome.  He was also a brilliant general and very well-educated.  At the time he became King, not much was expected of him.  The nobles would have been more willing to cooperate with him instead of Henry VI. 

There were still pockets of resistance against Edward IV.  They would have been loyal to the former king.  The support for the former king was primarily found in the north and they were encouraged by the Scottish king.  Jasper Tudor and the Duke of Exter continued to lead the Lancastrian resistance.  However, the Earl of Warwick would be back against this resistance.  Queen Margaret would continue to fight to claim her husband’s throne back.  She raised French troops and found some success in taking several castles.  With her little band of troops would try to make their way to Scotland.  However, the troops encountered many storms along the way and ultimately the potential rebellion failed.

Eventually, the Yorks would take back the castles.  Some Lancastrian supporters would eventually swear allegiance to the York King.  The Duke of Somerset would be one of these nobles who would become one of Edward’s biggest supporters.  The King was very generous eventually naming the duke as leader of his personal bodyguard.  This would have been seen as pure foolishness, however, by being generous to those who swore allegiance to him.  However, Somerset’s defection caused many to question him.  There was an attempt to lynch Somerset.  Somerset was eventually set away and it would be Somerset who would rise in rebellion against King Edward.  In the meantime, Queen Margaret would continue to ferment rebellion in the north of England.

King Edward, fed up with the Queen’s continued rebellion would make peace with both the Scots and the French, which cut off Margaret’s support.  Eventually, at the Battle of Hexham, King Henry was defeated and the Duke of Somerset was beheaded.  Edward would turn his attention to marriage and the question on everyone’s minds was who would King Edward marry?  The Earl of Warwick was looking for a foreign alliance, while King Edward had his own ideas.  He would marry the widow Elizabeth Woodville.  So why would King Edward marry this widow?  How popular would this marriage be?  How would Elizabeth and her family handle their newly elected status?  What would the Earl of Warwick do?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

This documentary is divided into chapters which make things easy to pull out sections for lectures.  The episode title was extremely deceptive because it was described as “Was King Henry VI Murdered?”  Also, it seemed to really jump around at the beginning of the documentary which made it hard to follow.  Then it finally slowed down and it was easy to pay attention to.  This was a very interesting documentary and other than the beginning was very well put together.  Anyway, I would recommend showing this documentary to a history class, because the story was very well told.

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on when you are reading this.  I hope that this day is finding you very well.  I am working through my documentary list and I am working on a documentary from the History Makers series.  The run time of this documentary is 55:09.

Francis Drake was one of the first people to circumnavigate the globe on the Golden Hind.  Drake was a fearless sailor and clever.  The English aristocracy employed the sailor to collect wealth through plunder and the slave trade.  Drake was considered a brave hero in the Elizabethan era.  However to the Spanish he was a pirate who was to be arrested.

The story begins with the reign of Queen Mary I.  The English had no interest in exploration and the French and Spanish capitalize on the lack of English interest.  Even English explorer Cabot was ignored and so the French would take initiative in North America.  The Spanish would take the lead in claiming more and more land for their growing Empire.  It was amongst this time Sir Francis Drake was born.  He was born to a protestant family who were persecuted by Queen Mary.  The Drakes would be driven out of their home county and into another church.  His father would eventually become a church vicar.  He would grow up detesting Catholicism.

Queen Elizabeth would become queen, ending the persecution.  Slowly England would recover and carefully avoided outright war.  It was the era of the privateer and sailors would become skilled pirates.  The privateers would make expeditions.  Francis Drake would learn his craft on board these ships.  He would get together with his cousin John Hawkins, whose family was financing voyages to West Africa.  I found myself drifting in this section and all of a sudden the types of ships were being discussed.  A new ship type evolved during these time and they were faster than what had originally been built.  Suddenly there was a discussion on the defeat of Drake at the hands of the Spanish.  Some of his sailors were executed.  He would never trust the Spanish again.  Drake never forgot and vowed to seek revenge.

Drake would spend his time in Atlantic and would raid Spanish ships.  He would add to his fleet of ships.  He would defy Queen Elizabeth I, who wanted to keep things friendly.  However, he kept attacking the Spanish ships and would gain treasure for the crown.  During this time, he would lay his eyes on the Pacific Ocean.  He vowed to sail on those seas.  He would take treasure.  Eventually Spanish and English relations would deteriorate to the point where Queen Elizabeth would summon Drake.  I got confused at this section, I thought it was a discussion on Drake planning on more raids against Spanish Colonies instead of a discussion on circumnavigating the globe. 

In 1577, Drake and his ships would set out on an expedition.  The location was secret.  The crew was uneasy about their destination.  Drake was the sole commander of this expedition.  I still felt unclear about this section, was this about sailing around the world?  Anyway, a restlessness arose among the crew and there was a near munity against Drake during this time.  Drake’s authority was questioned and so Drake put the mutineers on trial.  I still was not clear about the purpose of the voyage when there was a discussion about raiding because it seemed that it was implied that Drake would be go around the world.  Eventually because Drake figured the Spanish would ambush him, only then this section became clear that it would become an around the world trip.

After his return, there was a discussion on Drake and his accomplishments afterwards.  He would eventually be called back into service again.  To learn more about this part of his life, continue to watch the rest of the documentary. 

This documentary had a very old feel to it.  Although the information was good, I found myself drifting periodically through the documentary.  It could be good for research purposes.  However, I would not show this to a history class.  It was very confusing at some points, and I feel like a student would be confused as to what they were watching.

Good morning, I am going to move on through my documentary review list and flashforward to the year 1805.  I am working through my documentary playlist and trying to knock down my playlist.  I keep discovering new documentaries throughout the year and I add them to my list.  Nelson is a change for this blog.  Today’s documentary is going to be about Trafalgar and Admiral Horatio Nelson.  Here goes nothing.  It has a run time of 1:16:40.  It is called Nelson’s Trafalgar.

Admiral Horatio Nelson is one of Great Britain’s biggest heroes.  He was the admiral of the British Navy, whom the public believed would save them from Emperor Napoleon’s Invasion.  He was known for heroic deeds and many controversies.  He was the man whose shoulders rested the future of the Royal Navy was placed upon.  He romanced Lady Hamilton.  He would die at the Battle of Trafalgar.  So how could this man put aside his worries and lead the British Navy to a great victory?

The year was 1805 and Emperor Napoleon was planning an invasion of Britain.  He planned on knocking British power out of the English Channel and then invading Britain itself.  The British public knew that only one man could save them from the invasion: Admiral Horatio Nelson.  However, Nelson was nervous about defeating Napoleon at sea.  He would grow sick with worry at the thought of planning to defeat Napoleon.  His health suffered greatly.

In the meantime, the French fleet escaped the Mediterranean and would hook up with the Spanish fleet.  They were making their way to Britain.  No one just knew where this massive fleet would end up.  When he returned to Britain emptyhanded, he would have to face the scrutiny of the Royal Navy commanders and the public.  The public still adored Nelson.  His battle wounds would make him the most recognizable man of the day.  That said the Royal Navy would be examining Nelson’s decisions over the past two years.  He could be reckless and make questionable decisions. 

In the meantime, he returned home to his mistress.  For twenty-eight days he would remain on land before he would be sent out to sea once again.  His early years in the Royal Navy were marked with daring and oftentimes reckless decisions.  He was a man of action who led from the front.  Where did this recklessness come from?  His mother died when he was very young and his father was left to raise his surviving children alone.  However, he was a man who should have remarried.  Eventually, Nelson decided to go into the military and the navy.

A career in the Navy was a challenge for the Young Nelson.  He would become sick from time to time.  However, he was a willing sailor and fighter.  It was said that he would lose twice as many men as other generals.  His pride would often get in the way of things.  He would gain honors and would eventually be named as a Naval Captain.  He would become a larger-than-life legend during this time in the Navy.  He would often get injured many times over the years.  When he lost his arm, he would have to learn to use his left arm.  He called the stump “his fin.”  He would call himself a wreck of a man as a result of his injuries.  Despite his injuries, he continued to be a popular man amongst the public.  How could this reckless man become admiral of the British Navy?  How would he become a legend?  To learn more about Horatio Nelson follow the rest of the documentary.

From the start, it does feel like an older documentary and I could not put my finger on it.  Perhaps it was the dark camera filter, I do not know.  It was interesting to hear that he was a nervous wreck when it came to fighting.  It was a little bit choppy at the start and the timeline was out of order.  Anyway, the historians were very well-spoken as well as the narrator.  It was very well put together.  This would be excellent for research purposes, especially for biographies on Nelson and it would be a documentary to show to a history class.

This is the story of William the Conqueror.  He made his mark in history by invading England in 1066.  Who was the real William the Conqueror?  The primary source records are scarce when it comes to William's history.  When was William the Conqueror born?  What were his motivations for invading England?  He goes down in history as a brave man but was he that brave?  What was he like?  This docudrama is a dramatic retelling of William the Conqueror’s Story. 

William the Conqueror grew up in Normandy in the court of his father Robert the Magnificent.  The exact date of his birth is not known.  His mother was a local girl, so he was called a bastard his whole life.  Before Robert the Magnificent went off on a pilgrimage he had William crowned the Duke of Normandy in a grand ceremony.  He was only seven years old.  However, the nobles did not let him rule without a fight.  They did not want to be ruled by a bastard.

His uncles tried to overthrow him and there was an assassination attempt.  William was tipped off about the attempt and he fled on his horse.  This story starts the beginning of the legend of William the Conqueror.  He was young, brave, and strong.  He was a bastard and a loner.  He was capable of riding over long distances with killers at his heels.  He fled to Falaise where he would shelter from his enemies.

He was a man who never doubted his legitimacy.  His ancestors came from illegitimate marriages.  So when his legitimacy was questioned, he would take action against them.  At age 18 William took his first political action.  He reached out to the King of France.  Together they took down the rebel barons.  William was able to prove his leadership during this battle.  He took his rightful place as the Duke of Normandy after this battle.

After his marriage, he got married.  He was faithful to his wife Matilda.  She was the daughter of the Count of Flanders.  Matilda was also a descendant of the Carolingian Dynasty, so this would provide additional legitimacy to William’s rule in Normandy.  He was marrying into the highest royal line.  William and Matilda were devoted to each other.  William had no known mistress nor a known bastard while married to Matilda.

News of the marriage reached Rome where the Pope did not accept the marriage because they were cousins.  However, William ignored the pope and married Matilda anyway.  Together they built two great abbeys and this seemed to have assuaged the Pope.  William was going to settle down into a provisional life…until Edward the Confessor, the King of England named William as his heir.

It was the first step in the Beaux Tapestry that was created.  Edward the Confessor sent his half-brother Harold to Normandy.  Together they went to war in Brittany and became friends.  William made Harold swear over relics that Harold would back his claim to the throne of England.  This oath was most likely sworn in the crypts of the Beaux Cathedral.  Harold swore that after the death of Edward the Confessor, the King of England that he would hand over the kingdom to William.

Edward the Confessor died and on his death bed, he promised Harold that he would be King.  The next day, Harold crowned himself King.  William was not happy with Harold’s decisions.  William immediately planned an invasion of England to take the English throne.  Did Harold really go back on his word to William?  The sources are scarce at best.

In the meantime, William was raising an army and the money to invade England.  His men worked on building ships to prepare for the invasion.  A comet was spotted in the sky before the invasion and William took it as a sign.  Was it a sign of changing fortunes for William or for Harold?  William moved his troops further north, waiting for more favorable weather to launch his invasion.  The wind turned and the invasion of England was on.  Would William emerge victorious?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

When this popped up on my feed I was pleasantly surprised and had to do a review of this documentary.  This one would be an excellent documentary for research purposes.  I would show this documentary to a history class as well.  The run time for this documentary is 51:39.

In this final Thirty-One days of Time Team, we will be throwing it back to an older episode of the series.  Tony Robinson has long hair!  Today, the Time Team is hunting for a Mammoth. 
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Time Team is a landfill and underneath all the rubbish there is a village where Stone Age Britons lived.  There have been remains of Mammoths in the ground.  Will the Time Team find the remains of mammoths?  What will the remains of the mammoths tell the Time Team about Stone Age Britain?  The Time Team is in a gravel pit and will try to find out more about the history of Oxford.

Phil Harding talks about how the gravel pit is typical of paleolithic sites and talks about how the gravel pit was formed.  A channel was carved into the Oxford landscape.  However, nobody discovered the channel edges.  Intact surfaces from the prehistoric environment are rare and so the Time Team will use geophysics to distinguish the natural environment.  This is the first time geophysics will be used this way.

John Gater talks about the challenges of working in those conditions.  Gater hopes that the rain will hold off.  If it rains, geophysics may not work in this landscape.  The Time Team is hopeful that geophysics will work.  An air tent is set up in the field to help house the technology used.

A trench goes in and immediately they find bones.  Excavating in the gravel pits has been a challenge because of the bones.  It takes three days to excavate proper bones.  This will cause some delays for the Time Team.  Keeping Phil Harding on track will be a challenge.  In trench one, they are discovering the remains of a tree.  This may be where the river bank was.

On the south end of the pit, the Time Team is looking for the channel and where the river cut a channel.  Christine Buckingham is in charge of the site.  She believes that the river moved over decades.  Will the Time Team be able to find the edges of the river?

Mick Ashton gets in on the dig and discovers a mammoth tooth on the site.  It shows that the mammoth was eating lush green vegetation.  The animal was about 30 years old and would have stood to 10 feet tall.  It even adapted to the British environment.  The mammoth is a distraction from finding the river.  Mick talks about the challenges of trying to save archeology and trying to determine the environment.  Is destroying some known finds provide additional information worth it?  So will archeology be destroyed to determine the environment?

Mick and Tony go up in the air to see the landscape from above.  Mick talks with Tony about the history of the area and why the Time Team is focusing on the geology of the area.  Did the landscape support human habitation?  If it did, how many people live in the area?

The next day, a large trench will be dug.  It will go over the mammoth tusks.  Unfortunately, the weather has changed.  It has rained for five hours and turned the sand into the mud.  One trench will be covered and a second one will be dug.  Unfortunately for geophysics will face an uphill challenge trying to discover the edges of the channel.  In the second trench, another channel was discovered.  Is this a hint of a series of river channels?  Tune into Time Team to find out!

This particular episode of the Time Team would be excellent for a geology class and good for a history class.  Hunting for Mammoths is unusual because the Time Team focused more on geology.