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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.
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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.
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. Good morning, Thirty-One Days of the Time Team continues with the Birthplace of the Confessor. This time, the pressure is on the Time Team, as the whole village gets in on the dig. Town pride and Time Team clash in this episode.
Islip has a claim to fame. It is said that it was the birthplace of Edward the Confessor. The Time Team needs to find the chapel that was built in his honor as well as the palace where he grew up. The problem is that the town has never been dug before. It will be a tall order for the Time Team and they have three days to solve this mystery. Is Islip the birthplace of Edward the Confessor? Edward the Confessor is famous for keeping the country safe during his reign and for Westminster Abbey. He gained the name “Confessor” after his death. In the meantime, Mick Ashton is talking with the villagers who invited the Time Team to dig in their village. Tony is skeptical because there were no Saxon finds in the village. This is the first time there was a dig in the village. Stewart Ainsworth and Helen Geake are working together to figure out where the chapel was built. Ainsworth talks about the challenges map makers had back in the back day. Mapmaking was not a precise science because the makers and surveyors were relying on local knowledge. John Gater works on the chapel site. The chapel area was not an easy area to survey or use geophysics. The chapel site is in a lumber yard so there will be delays. The Time Team helps unload some wood. The chapel could be anywhere. It could even be in the yard of the pub or a local garden. The owner permits the Time Team to dig some test pits. The house may hold a clue as to where the chapel was. The house was called Confessor’s gate. The wall is less than 100 years old, however, there was a head stuck into the wall. Did the locals recycle something found and stuck it in the wall? It is just another mystery that Time Team will need to solve. The Confessor’s gate site may hold some better clues for the Time Team. The plans of the land show something akin to a chapel. One of the test pits will be extended to see if there is something to the house plans. Time Team will have two possible chapel sites to examine. Day one has mixed results. The site in the lumber yard is proving to be disappointing. A new map discovery is providing the Time Team with new guidance on where to dig for the chapel. One site is in a church graveyard, so they will need some special permission to dig in the graveyard. Tony explores more of the history of Edward the Confessor. Edward the Confessor left no heirs which lead to the Conquest. In 1161 he was made a saint. When he died he left the palace in Islip to a monastery. The monastery then built the chapel to recognize the birth site of Edward the Confessor. Is there anything that remains of the chapel or the Saxon palace? Will the Time Team find the chapel of Edward the Confessor? Will the Time Team find Saxon pottery to keep the villagers happy? Tune in to the episode to find out more. This was an enjoyable episode to watch throughout. It was interesting to learn more about Edward the Confessor. Islip was proud to be part of Edward the Confessor’s story. Additionally, the Time Team brought in a variety of sources to determine the location of the chapel. This would be a good episode to show when English history is discussed. Two more days and then Thirty-One Days of the Time Team will be done. It makes me sad to be winding down with the Thirty-One Days of the Time Team. IT was a nice little challenge to do for March and I’m glad that the Time Team came back to YouTube. In today’s episode, we will learn about King George III and his lost palace.
Kew Gardens is the setting for the Time Team. This was the site of the home of King George III called the white house palace. It was a favorite of King George III. The White House Palace was where King George III spent his later, made years locked up. What did it look like? Where was it located in the gardens? Time Team has three days to find out more about the palace. The White House palace was a spectacular home for King George. A sundial seems to mark the spot where the palace was. However, it does not tell the Time Team what it looked like. Was it a house that had a façade or was it built from scratch? Geophysics works on the site. However, the results are confusing. There seems to be a four-meter wide wall. That does not sound right to the Time Team. So why was there a four-meter-wide feature on the geophysics results? Trench one goes in. The Time Team carefully takes the top layers of turf off the lawn. There was a Tudor Mansion on the site. Was it knocked down to build a new home? Or did the architect just put a new face on the house? So far, all Phil is finding is gravel. Stewart is looking at the records for the old palace. There was a survey done that revealed a plan of the palace. The plans highlight the location of the rooms. “Geophysics seems to be doing fine without the plan,” Tony quips. A second trench is put in the ground. Time Team is hoping that they end up in the White House. Phil Works with a turf cutter to help remove the turf. The White House was where King George III stayed during his fits of madness. It was a time of change for Britain. England stood alone against France. The Industrial Revolution was occurring. Great Britain was growing wealthy. Phil is excavating trench one. There is plenty of gravel but no archeology. Nick the site manager wants to close out the trench and move Phil on to another Trench. Phil insists on staying. However, everyone is growing worried. Was the building completely rubbed out of the landscape when it was taken down? Trench Two puts those fears to rest when there is brickwork is discovered. Back at trench one, there is evidence of a cellar, and Phil’s instincts are proven right. Going into day two, things are going well for the Time Team. However, while John Gater reviews the geophysics results alongside the blueprints of the palace. None of it is making sense to John. Another trench will be needed to find the back of the palace. There is a problem: there is a gas pipe running through the lawn. This will prevent the Time Team from digging where they need to to find the back of the palace. Trench one is yielding some more brick as well as a glass stem for a wine glass from the Georgian period. What else will Time Team find out about the White House? What will this dig tell us about King George III? Tune into this episode to find out more. This episode would be a good episode to show while learning about King George III. This was the place where George III spent his last years. In this Time Team special the team tries to find the 1066 battlefield. Willam the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 changing the course of English history. Where this history took place is a mystery. No archeological evidence of the 1066 battlefield has been found. The Battle of Hastings at 1066 was one of the most ferocious battles in English history. It was brutal and bloody. So where is the battlefield? Time Team has been given unprecedented access to the official 1066 battlefield.
Tony Robinson starts by discussing the history of 1066. 1066 had a seismic impact on English history. The aristocracy was removed and replaced with foreigners. Castles appeared in the English landscape for the first time. The battle was the thought of William, Duke of Normandy. He was the cousin of the English king. When the English King died, another man seized the throne. William then made his way over to England and won the English throne. Later in English history, an abbey was built on the site of the battlefield. The Normans built an altar where Harold, the noble who attempted to take the throne, died. Unfortunately, there was no evidence of a battle that took place at the site. No bones, no weapons were found. Both sides had about 7,000 men each. Harold had lost a lot of men defeating a Viking army. It was a challenge to cobble together an army. William had taken Hastings and was ready to fast Harold. Several English historians finally started to challenge the real story about the location of the battle. They looked to the chronicles. The chronicles said that the battle was fought on the high ground and not on level ground. The monks built the abbey four years after the battle and built it on a flat piece of the ground after getting advice from the locals. Time Team starts investigating the official battlefield and then the Hill where the historians believe that the 1066 battle took place. Immediately, they run into problems because there are historical reenactments that take place on the official battlefield. They will have to strip a layer of ground off the site because of the modern debris in the soil. They will have to be careful when they remove the top layer. 900-year-old remains will be fragile, so they take care in removing the top ground layer. Phil talks with one of the reenactors about what items would be dropped. The reenactors talk about dropping teeth and bits and pieces off his uniform. Weapons, even broken weapons, would be taken off the battlefield. Anything that could be repaired was taken. Scavengers would take care of the rest. Tony looks at the Bayeux Tapestry. It was a record of the Battle of Hastings. It was created in Canterbury. William the Conqueror’s half brother commissioned the tapestry. Although it is an excellent piece of work, it demonstrates how little is known about the Battle of Hastings . The Time Team goes over the plowed area with metal detectors. They find metal nails and some archeology. The dig continues. It is a risk for English Heritage because the dig could find evidence that the battle did not take place where legend says it did. This is an excellent Time Team episode. It is so intriguing with its different angles as to the true location of the Battle of Hastings. Tony Robinson narrates this episode very well and with a great deal of humor. This would be one episode I would show to a history classroom or a science classroom because of all the theories and tests that are shown in this episode. So does Time Team find the actual location of the Battle of Hastings, continue to watch to find out! The series concludes with Anne Boleyn's execution. Borman explores the documents that lead up to that event and hope that Henry VIII would grant her a reprieve.
Anne believed that there would be a reprieve from Henry VIII. She was up all night the day before her execution. Her mood swung wildly between composure and hysteria. She cheerfully welcomes death, the constable of the tower noted. The four men who were found guilty of adultery with the Queen were executed on Tower Hill. Anne would be executed within the tower walls. A scaffold was built. Cromwell wanted Anne executed quickly so Henry VIII would not change his mind. Henry VIII wanted to get rid of Anne. Cromwell persuaded Cramner, the Archbishop of Canterbury to write off the marriage between Anne and Henry VIII. Elizabeth was made a bastard. Cramner had his doubts about Anne's guilt and spent a sleepless night before her execution. He knows her better than anyone. She would have told him if she was guilty. He believes her innocent and that Henry would save her. However, Alexander Alice, a friend of Cramner came to him in order to tell him a chilling nightmare. Alice saw Anne's execution in his dream. Cramner now knows that Anne is going to be executed. He goes to Anne for her final confession and communion. She confirms her innocence with him, and if she was lying it meant she would have condemned her soul. The people in the meantime are starting to mutter against the execution. Are they coming to the side of Anne Boleyn's side? Cromwell is growing nervous. He had the people cleared out of the tower. Anne prepares for her execution. She dresses with a red kirtle and black dress. Henry VIII dictates that Anne Boleyn be executed by the sword, rather than by burning or executed by the axe. It was the first time that a Queen of England was executed. A precedent was being set with this execution. To continue to learn more about the day of Anne Boleyn's execution, continue to watch the documentary. I would use this documentary for research into Tudors and would show clips from it to a class as part of a lecture. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. All questions should fit onto one page after formatting. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. The Fall of Anne Boleyn Episode 3 Questions
The Fall of Anne Boleyn Episode 3 Answers
Helen Castor concludes the series. Lady Jane's supporters slip away from the Tower of London. Mary is proclaimed Queen. Lady Jane is now a prisoner, but as rebellions against Mary pile up, she is executed.
It is day eight in Lady Jane Grey's reign and Lady Jane Grey takes charge of the tower and locks her supporters in the Tower, taking charge of the keys of the Tower. The days of Lady Jane Grey's reign are coming to an end. Princess Mary has gathered the supporters from the nobles and the commoners. The navy has rebelled against Lady Jane Grey and threw their support to Princess Mary. The Duke of Northumberland moves against Princess Mary but takes his time in engaging in battle with her. This is a fatal mistake on his part as the tide has turned towards Princess Mary. He doesn't realize the Navy had turned against the coup and turned over their gunpowder to Princess Mary. Princess Mary has won the day. The Privy Council makes plans to cover their own and protect their interests by blaming the Duke of Northumberland for the coup. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. All questions should fit onto one page after formatting. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. England's Forgotten Queen 3 Questions:
England's Forgotten Queen 3 Answers:
Episode 2 begins with day at Day 3 of Lady Jane Grey's reign. Princess Mary gathers support to make her bid for the throne. Duke of Northumberland works to make sure Lady Jane stays on the throne. The attack on Mary begins.
Nobody believes that Mary can take the English Throne. The King had changed the succession to the English throne and it seems that Lady Jane Grey will become Queen. Meanwhile, Mary sends out letters to gather support for her claim to the English Throne. The locals in East Anglia start to gather to support Mary's claim because she was the rightful Queen. She moves to Suffolk, continuing to call for support. Lady Jane Grey lives in the Tower under the watchful eye of the Duke of Northumberland. Lady Jane Grey's father was chosen to lead the army against Princess Mary, but Lady Jane Grey keeps him behind and sends the Duke of Northumberland in his place. This decision may have lead to her downfall. The Duke of Northumberland was the one who holds the coup together and by sending him away the coup might not be able to hold the throne. The Duke of the Northumberland marches on Princess Mary but badly underestimates the support Princess Mary has in the country. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. All questions should fit onto one page after formatting. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. England's Forgotten Queen Episode 2 Questions:
England's Forgotten Queen Episode 2 Answers:
Helen Castor explores the life and death of Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days Queen of England. Castor explores why Lady Jane Grey was selected as Queen of England, the secrecy behind the plot to put her on the throne and the fight to keep her on the throne.
This is a careful look at the life of Lady Jane Grey and takes place over 3 episodes. Each episode takes at least three days of the nine days reign. Lady Jane Grey is a tricky subject in English history, there are plenty of angles to take. This documentary allows the viewer to make up their own minds on Lady Jane Grey Grey. The episode kicks off with the death of the King and the documents that were made concerning about his death. There were concerns surrounding what would happen if the King were to die and if the Catholic Princess Mary would take the throne. With the dissolution of the monasteries, the noble class enriched themselves and of course they would want to protect their interest. However the entire succession fell to women, not a man in sight. It was in this environment, Lady Jane Grey was put forward to become the Protestant Queen of England. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. All questions should fit onto one page after formatting. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. England's Forgotten Queen Episode 1 Question:
England's Forgotten Queen Episode 1 Answers:
Neil Oliver explores the life and death of Alfred the Great, the English King who unified the country. He explores old England and what happened to the remains of Alfred the Great over the years.
A grave in a churchyard was excavated to uncover a set of bones, these bones could belong to Alfred the Great. It would help solve a 150 year old mystery, the bones were claimed to belong to Alfred the Great. He was the king that unified the English nation and the only English King called the Great. Neil Oliver explores the life of Alfred the Great from his early beginnings to his defeat of the Vikings. Oliver traces the history of how the bones ended up in the Church yard. He was originally buried in the old church in Winchester, then at the time of the death was in the progress of having a new monastery built. There he was exhumed and buried in the new monastery. When the Normans invaded they destroyed the Winchester church and then built a new church and moved the bones to a new church on the site. This church was then destroyed during the reign of Henry VIII, and it was a stone quarry for building the area around. He then looks at what happened to the area of the church during the Victorian period. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. All questions should fit onto one page after formatting. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. The Search for Alfred the Great Questions:
The Search for Alfred the Great Answers:
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The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |
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