What you might not know about the Bayeux Tapestry The Bayeux Tapestry is perhaps the world’s most famous "comic strip." Stretching nearly 70 metres, it tells the epic saga of…
In the annals of medieval history, few transformations are as breathtaking as the rise of the Normans. In just a few generations, they evolved from Viking raiders settled in northern…
How much Viking was left in the Norman Warrior of 1066? The Norman warrior who charged up Senlac Hill in 1066, armoured on horseback, cut a figure vastly different from…
The Evolution of Norsemen to Normans In the year 911 AD, the land we now call Normandy was simply "Neustria"—a fractured, raid-weary province of the West Frankish Kingdom. Its new…
The Early Medieval Shieldwall: Not for the Faint-hearted There was nothing remotely romantic about standing in a medieval shieldwall, it was simply a highly efficient expedient to winning medieval battles, …
Raven in flight In the mist-choked fjords of the tenth century, the sight of a raven was rarely viewed as a mere coincidence. For Scandinavian pagans the raven was not…
Like many medieval monarchs, William ‘the Bastard’, Duke of Normandy and King of England, fulfilled his destiny by creating a dynasty that, although it did not last long, was full…
Whether William the Conqueror was a brilliant strategist or just a lucky general has been a matter of conjecture, depending on whose side you were on. However, no one could…
After attending a recent enactment at Battle Abbey, I was reminded of the old Irish saying, “If ifs and buts were pots and pans, they’d be no need for tinkers'…
