1066: A Guide To The Battles And The Campaigns, by Michael Livingston & Kelly DeVries

In reading this book, I had a thought that a company like Viking Tours would want to take advantage of the information in this book. I am not sure how big of a market there is for 1066 tours, but the possibility of including a wide variety of sites in a tour that combined sites in England, Scotland, Normandy, Denmark, and Norway would appear to be something that could be worthwhile trip, given that the authors here consider at least five separate tours to various locations relating to the wars of 1066 that determined the course of English destiny by bringing England into an orbit that included France and the Low Countries rather than Scandinavia. Admittedly, the issue of 1066 looms far larger in the history of England than it does for the rest of Great Britain, at least directly, or for the United States, but at the same time it means that the places involved in the campaigns of the year could very easily be made accessible to historical tourists. This seems like such an obvious thing to do that I’m surprised that a 1066 package tour hasn’t been made widely available yet that takes advantage of the insights of this book. It seems like the sort of trip that would be interesting and enjoyable as well as educational.

This book is a short one at about 200 small pages, but it packs a fair bit of information into its six chapters. The book begins with acknowledgements and an introduction from the book’s two notable and accomplished medieval historians (one of whom is a personal acquaintance of mine). This is followed by a discussion of the drama and difficulties in succession that the Old Kingdom of England had faced in the 10th and 11th centuries. This is followed by a discussion of William and Normandy, which ends with a discussion of the first tour, the origins of the Conqueror, featuring some lovely sights, mostly in Normandy (2). This is followed by a discussion of the Norwegian invasion that was defeated at Stamford Bridge, along with a dramatic tour involving Tostig’s journey ending in his death (3). The fourth chapter of the book discusses William’s road to Hastings, and includes a tour of Pevensey Castle and its surroundings (4). After that there is a chapter on the Battle of Hastings, with an alternative provided to the traditional battle site and a tour included of Battle Abbey and its surroundings (5). The final chapter of the book discusses Willian’s circuitous route to London, and gives a tour of the march that he took to secure his possession of the Kingdom of England (6). The book then ends with suggestions for further reading and an index.

One of the notable aspects of 1066 was the way in which the kingdom of England found itself to be such a notable target for opportunists. The death of Edward the Confessor made England a kingdom that offered attractive benefits to those who could take it over, and the offer was, unfortunately, taken up by multiple people. The Witanganot, the council of notables in England, chose their most powerful member, Harold Godwinson, to take the throne of England, but he had made a lot of enemies and his position attracted rivals, and he reigned less than a year. Edgar Aethling, the young man chosen to replace him, reigned even less time before submitting to William the Conqueror. This book does a good job in explaining the battles and campaigns and the difficulties that England had in defending itself against a two-pronged invasion and, perhaps, the lack of wisdom that Harold Godwinson showed in being too quick and in too exhausted a condition to fight both the Norwegians and the Normans. Once England’s elite housecarls had been depleted in multiple battles and the English elite was itself greatly depleted by losses, it lost the ability to defend itself from conquest, unfortunately. The result was domination by the Normans. This result greatly transformed the English language (by giving it a lot of French words and pronunciation problems) and also English law and society, notably for the worst at first, at least until some aspects of England’s ancient liberties were revied. But that is a story for another book.