Conquest 1066: A Three-Act Drama

By J.J. Parker

England will soon be invaded from two directions. What will its king do?

Thus confronted is Harold Godwinson, the realms monarch in 1066. He had been chosen king by his dying predecessor although that monarch, Edward, had earlier promised the kingship to William, the ruthless (and bastard) duke of Normandy.

But while William builds a fleet and gathers an army of invasion, Harald Hardrada, fierce ruler of Norway, raids North East England. Its Saxon king, Harold, ponders whether to march his army north to confront the Vikings or to defend the southern coast against the Normans.

What will he decide?

The fate of Saxon England dangles between two swords stretching from Europe and Scandinavia and bracketing its one army. King Harolds military campaign decision could lead to the subjugation of England by one or both invaders or its prevention.

Read on . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 2, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984544100

J.J. Parker

N/A

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Copyright © 2018 by J.J. Parker.

ISBN:                Softcover                    978-1-9845-4411-7

                          eBook                          978-1-9845-4410-0

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Rev. date: 07/31/2018

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Contents

Author Introduction

Setting and Time

Cast of Characters

Beatsheet For Conquest

Prologue

ACT I

Act I Scene 1

Act I Scene 2

Act I Scene 3

Act I Scene 4

Act I Scene 5

Act I Scene 6

ACT II

Act II Scene 1

Act II Scene 2

Act II Scene 3

Act II Scene 4

Act II Scene 5

Act II Scene 6

Act II Scene 7

Act II Scene 8

Act II Scene 9

Act II Scene 10

Act II Scene 11

Act II Scene 12

Act II Scene 13

Act II Scene 14

Act III

Act III Scene 1

Act III Scene 2

Act III Scene 3

Act III Scene 4

Act III Scene 5

Act III Scene 6

Act III Scene 7

Act III Scene 8

Act III Scene 9

Act III Scene 10

Act III Scene 11

Act III Scene 12

Epilogue

Descriptions of Main Characters of Conquest: 1066

Author Introduction

King Harold Godwinson, Duke William The Bastard of Normandy, and the Norwegian Harald Hardrada: these are this play’s three main characters, who historically contended for the English crown. Harold’s brother Tostig Godwinson is a wild card; had he not convinced Hardrada to seek the English throne, King Harold would not have lost veteran soldiers at the Battle of Stamford bridge, and could well have withstood the forthcoming Norman attack in the South.

Likewise, had King Harold waited a week or two, his forces would have been fortified by replacement fyrdsmen (militia) streaming southward from the Northern shires of Northumbria and Mercia. (Note: England didn’t yet have counties; instead, it had larger divisions called shires -- 34 of them.) But Harold felt he couldn’t wait a day let alone a fortnight, as the Pope had recently excommunicated him for breaking his holy oath (forced upon him by his then-captor, Duke William, in 1064) regarding England’s royal succession. Thus, Harold believed, should he wait for reinforcements while word of his expulsion from the Church spread, his troops would either desert him or not fight hard on his behalf.

To understand the interplay among the main players, one should try to understand the medieval mind. Religion predominated people’s thought, and attaining Heaven was perhaps the main goal of most. Also, they believed that if they offended God, calamities would happen to them not only in the afterlife, but on Earth as well.

At least, the non-vikings believed in that religiosity. The Norsemen (citizen-warriors from Norway for the most part, though some of the Danish invaders were also considered vikings) had their own pantheon of Gods, but presumably, raping, pillaging, murdering, and fleecing monasteries of their riches were not deemed religious offenses. And these acts the Norsemen did often, from the 800s A.D. into the mid-11th Century, in not only England and Ireland and Scotland, but also in Continental Europe. Interestingly, the Normans themselves were descended from viking marauders who settled in the Northern France province after vanquishing it.

But, to recapitulate, what of this three- (or four-) headed mix of Harold, Harald, William, and, perhaps, Tostig, the black sheep of the Godwinson family? Well, had any of these gentlemen’s plans changed, the subsequent history of England would have been different. Tostig, after his brother stripped him of his Northumbria earldom for various reasons, including Tostig having allegedly been a greedy tyrant, Tostig -- seeking revenge -- sought the King of Norway’s help. This help was a stereotypical viking raid on Northeastern England, which had been a Norsemen stronghold under the Danelaw, when viking immigrants had ruled the northeastern half of England. But the Saxons’ premier fighting force, the housecarls, were at least the equal of the Norsemen in battle, and when -- at Stamford Bridge -- the vikings were caught unprepared and without armor, they were decimated. The puny remnant sailed back to Norway, to never again threaten England. Tostig’s brother King Harold gave him a chance at reconciliation before the battle, but the bitter younger brother remained with the Vikings, and he like the veteran warrior Harald was slain during the ensuing combat.

Hardrada, though, probably would have been glad to die as he did: in combat. He was a man who had survived and thrived in countless battles and skirmishes, burned who knows how many towns, plundered uncounted monastaries, raped undetermined wenches, put to the sword hundreds of unresisting villagers, and drunk countless gallons of wine. He lived as thoroughly as possible, a larger-than-life character from today’s perspective, but from his, a typical viking leader.

William the Conqueror could have been named William the Foolish had it not been for 1) a northerly wind that blew at the right moment, when Harold’s army was occupied in the North and not defending England’s Southern coast, 2) the rashness of part of the English fyrd, which disobeyed Harold’s stand fast order and dashed after retreating Normans early in the Battle of Hastings, and 3) the Pope excommunicating Harold, without which, Harold probably would have hunkered down south of London and awaited reinforcements, soon to greatly outnumber William, instead of abruptly battling the Bastard in the field soon after the bloody Battle of Stamford Bridge. Yet, history is immutable, and if is the largest word in the English language….

This play was written because it has an absorbing plot, rivaling any historic tale that Shakespeare could have used. Also, this play’s what-if aspect may fascinate true students of history.

As for the physical appearances of the male characters in Conquest: the English (or Saxons, as sometimes they were called, being themselves descended from invaders, from the land of what is now Northern Germany, who flocked to England in the 5th and 6th Centuries) wore long, luxurious mustaches. But apparently they had no beards, judging from the Bayeux Tapestry (which was Norman propaganda created after Hastings to justify the invasion and seizure of a foreign land). The Normans were clean shaven, also cropping the hair on the back of their heads, perhaps because they wore uncushioned helmets that would have pulled on longer hair.

In battle, the Norman army relied on cavalry and archers. It was thus divided into these two main elements, though it also had sword-wielding foot soldiers. The key to winning the Battle of Hastings was when the Normans alternated arrow showers on the English line with charges by cavalry: when the Englishmen raised their shields to protect themselves against the hail of arrows, that left their torsos open to the slash of Norman swords or the stab of cavalrymen’s lances. And when the Saxons dropped their shields to guard against the charging Norman horsemen, that made them vulnerable to arrows swooping down from above: King Harold himself was gravely wounded by an arrow stabbing through one of his eyes.

The English had no mounted force. Also, they had but few archers. And they fought as one standing mass: housecarls front and center, and the fyrdsmen flanking them and behind. The housecarls wielded their dreaded two-handed axe, which split through thin Norman shields as well as human flesh and bone. The fyrd attacked with a variety of rocks (slung by slingshots), javelins, spears, one-handed axes, and scythes.

What was in the wake of Hastings, besides a change of government and rulers? The English learned to use the longbow, which won them several key battles against the French in the 1300s and 1400s. Also, the English developed cavalry, which contributed to the victorious battle of Waterloo in a distant century. Further, the Norman-governed English focused on continental European matters as never before, particularly those in France, which then was a collection of provinces rather than a country. Keeping an eye on the Norsemen was no longer needed, especially since the vikings had been cowed into realizing they could no longer bully the English.

Still ... what if the Saxons had beaten Duke William, killed most of his men, and run him back into the Channel? What would the subsequent history of England been like?

No one knows, nor can tell. But England’s kings would not have included the Norman-descended Plantagenets, those impulsive, high-tempered, ambitious nobles who repeatedly sought the French crown as an added diadem to their Brittanic one. And perhaps the Wars of the Roses would not have occurred, without a disputed Plantagenet succession. And no wars in France, no Crecy, no Agincourt, no Joan of Arc….

Maybe no English Empire, for mayhap it was the conquering viking spirit in Norman blood that paved the way for England to settle America, foist convicts on Australia, plunder South Africa of its resources, and colonize India.

Enough speculating ... time for history, or at least, a tale gleaned from some key sources:

1) Howarth, David. 1066: Year of the Conquest. U.S.A.: Viking Press, 1978.

The best source, perhaps, because Howarth himself perused 20 works, all dated from 1050-1245, contemporary or close to the Conquest’s time. Also, Howarth used neutral, neither pro-English nor pro-Norman, sources whenever he could.

2) Schama, Simon. A History of Britain, Vol. I. VHS Video.

Written and presented by Schama. A BBC production, 2000.

Good interpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry and an account of what the English and Norman forces were like.

3) Seymour, William. Yours to Reason Why: Decision in

Battle. Great Britain: Sidgwick and Jackson Limited, 1982. 1-15.

Valuable for information regarding English and Norman forces, numbers and unit makeups, and the types of weapons used.

-J.J.P.

Note: In the following play, the terms Saxons and English are used interchangably, and refer to natives of England. And barons and knights refer to lower-level nobles. Also, Harald is the viking (Norwegian/Norseman) king, and Harold is the English/Saxon king.

Setting and Time

England, Various Locations; Normandy

Late 1065 to October 1066

Cast of Characters

Aides

Archbishop of Canterbury

Athel (English fyrdsman)

Attendant (English)

Dark-Haired Thane

Dreamer (a Viking)

Edith Swanneck (Harold’s common-law wife)

Edwin (an English earl)

Emissary (Norman)

Erig (young fyrdsman from Sussex)

Escort (a viking)

Fyrd Leader

Fyrdsman

Gainta (English fyrdman)

Gifford, Sir Walter (Norman noble)

Gyrth Godwinson (Harold’s brother and an earl)

Harald Hardrada (King of Norway, a Viking)

Harold Godwinson (Subregulus, later King of England)

Heinth (servant to Harold)

Horsta (elder fyrdsman from Sussex)

Housecarl

Hugh of Montfort (Norman noble)

King Edward

Knight (English)

Lead Guard (Norman)

Leofwine Godwinson (Harold’s brother and an earl)

Lout (drunken English fyrdsman)

Magnus Hardrada (son of the Viking king)

Messenger #1 (English)

Messenger #2 (English)

Monk (of a London abbey)

Morkere (an English earl)

Northern Thane

Odo (Norman bishop and William’s half-brother)

Old Thane

Orderly (English)

Pope

Rider (English)

Rider (Norman)

Roger of Beaumont (Norman noble)

Roger of Montgomery (Norman noble)

Servant (Norman)

Soothsayer (English)

Speaker (of the Witan, English ruling body)

Thane

Tostig Godwinson (Earl of Northumbria, then deposed)

Townsman #1 (of London)

Townsman #2 (of London)

Queen (Edward’s wife; a Godwinson)

Ulfer (thane of Horstede, Sussex)

Viking #1

Viking #2

Viking Veteran (warrior/raider)

Waltheof (an English earl)

William (Duke of Normandy, later King of England)

William FitzOsbern (a Norman noble)

Witan #1 (a member)

Wulfstan (Bishop of Worcester)

Beatsheet For Conquest

Prologue: 1051, London: England’s King Edward has exiled Earl Godwin and his sons to France. Edward invites the young Duke William of Normandy to England. In Edward’s London castle, the king says he’s naming William his heir, since Edward has no children, and is grateful to the Normans for past favors. William is surprised, grateful, and gratified.

I, 1: Harold Godwin is a handsome but short aristocrat, and rich, with two loyal brothers. As the oldest, he is the Earl of Wessex, the most powerful earl in England. His late father, Godwin, had been Edward’s main administrator and counselor (the subregulus to the king). In Summer 1064, Harold wants to go fishing and hawking as relaxation. He embarks for the Isle of Wight from Bosham, his home on the Southern coast of England. A servant, Heinth, attends him. They plan to hunt and fish in the isle’s teeming forest. But once between the English coast and Wight, a fierce storm with a wind from the northwest brews. They try to row against the gale but can’t, and it blows their sail southeast to St.Valery, on the Norman coast. They believe they can rest on the coast until a southerly wind returns them to England, but the boat carrying Harold Godwinson and Heinth is beached. They carry it ashore and try to hide it in nearby brush. But approaching are hostile Norman horsemen. Greedy and hoping for ransom, they arrest the pair and take them to Duke William.

I, 2: At William’s castle in Rouen, the captive Harold is presented to the duke by the guards who captured him. He is forced to go hunting with William. Yet in Mont St. Michel, Harold rescues two Norman guards sinking in quicksand. William is impressed, and knights Harold. But the Bastard is now the liege lord of Harold. The duke mentions to an aide that in 1051, when visiting England, that King Edward -- who, when exiled to Normandy before he became king -- had offered him the English crown once he died. But King Edward told no one else, William admits. And he fears that Harold will steal the crown once Edward dies. To seal the Saxon’s loyalty, the Bastard plans to ensnare Harold.

I, 3: Duke William tricks Harold, having him swear an oath of fealty to him over a hidden religious relic (the bones of a saint concealed under a table that held William’s sword). This oath allegedly will bind the Saxon noble to William as an underling.

I, 4: Sept. 1065: While hunting in Wessex with Tostig, Earl of Northumbria, King Edward learns that the earl’s liegemen (landowners) have revolted against Tostig. They accuse him of fleecing monastaries, creating a private army, and being tyrannical. (Tostig had governed Northumbria unjustly; had despoiled the land’s churches, taxed his liegemen unjustly, and twisted laws to rob and murder enemies and opponents.) Harold consults two dissatisfied thanes from Northumbria, saying he will speak to the king about disciplining Tostig -- Harold’s brother.

I, 5: Oct. 1065: London Castle: Harold, subregulus to King Edward, argues in favor of removing his brother Tostig from the northern earldom. Edward wants to avoid a civil war, so he agrees to replace Tostig with Morkere, a more controllable and youthful earl.

I, 6: Edward summons Tostig to the king’s castle. Edward tells Tostig he’s being replaced as Northumbrian earl. Edward regrets the act, for Tostig is his favorite Godwinson, but the sovereign wants to avoid bloodshed. In retribution, Tostig vows to travel to Norway and convince its viking king to invade England.

II, 1: Winter of 1065, Dec.24: Bad weather portends danger; gales, destroyed churches, and uprooted trees plague England. A soothsayer claims it foretells a calamitous event forthcoming in 1066. Introduced is Edith Swanneck, a 22-year-old blonde and Harold’s new mistress, whom he plans to make queen if he becomes king. She is wary of the bad sign the contentious weather represents. Harold calms her by