The Bayeux Tapestry depicts one of the best-known episodes in English history: the Norman Conquest of 1066. The cavalry of William, Duke of Normandy, ride into battle at Hastings against the army of King Harold Godwinson, bodies littering the ground. “Here King Harold has been killed,” proclaims the Tapestry's text, and next: “The English have turned to flight.” Thus, Duke William became William the Conqueror, seized the kingdom, and imposed long-lasting Norman rule.
We all know the Normans conquered England in 1066 – but this is not entirely true. In fact, William only seized the polity ruled by Harold: the Anglo-Saxon kingdom, whose royal heartlands lay in Wessex and London. But beyond the limits of Harold's rule lay the Kingdom of Cumbria. This realm was not conquered by William in 1066, and it mostly maintained its independence for another generation. Only in 1092 did William's son, William II – better known as William Rufus – annex the southern part of the kingdom to the English state, extending Norman rule in the north-west to Hadrian's Wall.
Fractured by conquest
So why has the Kingdom of Cumbria been largely forgotten by history? The answer, perhaps, lies in its lack of longevity. Only emerging in the
