King and Conqueror

I’m still listening to podcasts about that period of history ( the latest one being the Emma of Normandy one on You’re Dead to Me and one which went into great detail about the battle…in that one was the man who made that excellent series about The Normans) and still think that it was a period of time that was far too complicated to make a tv series of so I think they rather cleverly cherry picked events that happened over thirty years and crammed them into just a few. So, even though Edward didn’t murder his mum he really really didn’t like her and probably felt like throttling her at times. And she had tried to get him wiped out at one time, too. I reckon I’m the only person on the planet who, after watching it three times ended up really liking it!

😂

Time to re-read 1066 And All That!

So…..The battle that defined our nation “reimagined” as a soap and a very poor quality one at that! What a terrible waste of very good actors.
I’ve just -on a whim, searched and found that all the Horrible Histories kids tv series are available on iplayer, so I’ve saved them, they are actually more historically faithful than this.

The best podcast I’ve listened to so far is the History Extra one about William the Conqueror. I’ll forgive the bit about Emma; she had it coming to her for overacting. I think the actress playing Edward’s wife is very good, though.

MayBee70

Perhaps producers can use artistic licence when filming a work of fiction but we should expect a degree of accuracy when portraying actual historical events.

I suppose it can provide some entertainment, sitting picking holes in it!

Oh dear, can it get any worse?

The aesthetic and very religious Edward the Confessor murdering his mother? BBC, even for you that is a step too far. Ridiculous!
He did strip his mother of her wealth and assets therefore her power and she was sent to live in exile in Winchester.

I’ve now watched Tony Robinsons excellent documentary about Harold. The whole lead up to it took over 25 years and there are many more characters and events than can possibly be condensed into a ten part series. But they did feature many of those events in different ways. A bit like Eric Morecombes ‘I’m playing the right notes but not necessarily in the right order’. Someone who had to attempt to turn The Time Travellers Wife into a coherent film said you just have to realise that you have to omit 90% of what was in the book and just pick out what’s necessary. So if you approach the series in a different way ie a Game of Thrones type historical romp it’s quite good. In fact, as someone that loved GOT’s until they totally ruined the ending, it’s probably the closest I’ve ever come to watching something that reminded me of it ( maybe it’s because of Nikolai being in it). And it is all about men constantly finding reasons to have battles but women having to keep the rest of life running as smoothly as possible. After 1066 anyone that had any sort of claim to the throne kept trying to raise an army to take back the crownIt also makes me realise why Henry VIII was so desperate to have a male heir, given the problems caused by Edward not having a successor (he was married to Edith for many years and they had no children).

You’ll have to watch it to find out!
Oh no! Do I have to?

Ok, I'll have to get in the mood first.

Allira

MayBee70

And Judith outlived him by thirty years!

What did the BBC pretend happened to Judith, Maybee?
I lost interest, sorry.

You’ll have to watch it to find out! I really didn’t intend to rewatch it but as I’m house sitting with time on my hands I thought I’d give it a go and I did enjoy it. It was very Game of Thrones’y . If you look beyond dialogue that wasn’t the best the acting was quite good, especially the women. I thought Juliet Stephenson was far too OTT but I’ve never liked her much anyway. The music is nice, too. I used to like The White Queen/Princess and it reminded me a bit of that. I assume the BBC made it in conjunction with another organisation, which is what they tend to do these days. I might watch it again tonight!

The £6 papack turned out to be a very second hand,ex library book.A page was missing. The pages were yellow and smelled old and I couldn’t bear to attempt read it.I didn’t realise it was out of print and there was no indication it was second hand. So having looked around I decided todo without after also not being able to find copies in Apple Books and kindle. The company reimbursed me and told me not to send it back.

MayBee70

And Judith outlived him by thirty years!

What did the BBC pretend happened to Judith, Maybee?
I lost interest, sorry.

And Judith outlived him by thirty years!

Quite so, and that when he was killed, they fled to Norway, and his wife Judith married the King of Bavaria. Tostig was buried in York Minster.

But if it was based on fact it would point out that Tostig had had two children with another woman.

The whole business with Tostig, while prettily done, was a complete nonsense, and the drama would have us believe that people who actually died in their beds, were murdered. Why let the truth get in the way of a good story😁.

MayBee70

I think they were nearly all called Edith in Anglo-Saxon times, with an occasional Ethel, Mildred, Hilda to avoid too much confusion.

Incidentally, how many of us had an Aunt Edith? Are these names coming back again now?
Then came the Norman names, many popular today.

MayBee70

Hereward the Wake was dramatised by the BBC; it’s one of the first historical series I remember watching as a child. I loved it. I think the run up to 1066 was so complicated it would probably take. Ken Burns type documentary series to do it justice and I think they did quite a good précis of such a complicated period of time. Harold had several more brothers; his sister who married the king was also called Edith but they gave her the name of another sister to avoid confusion. I think the series was pretty good at showing the role women played at a time when all men seemed to think about was having battles.

I remember Hereward the Wake, it was a very good series, much better than this one so far. Having said that I've already given up.

petra

That’s an hour I’ll never get back.
So disappointed.
Whoever wrote that script needs shooting. I can’t believe brilliant actors signed up after they had read the script.
I can only assume times are hard and they need the money.

Glad I gave up after 30 minutes.

Do not think the description of Edith Swan-neck as Harold's 'common law wife', is very helpful. They were married properly according to the law at the time, just did not include the Church.
That was what I read online, Franbern. Perhaps it was wrong; however, Harold did marry another woman who became his Queen whilst Edith Swan-neck was still alive.

They were "hand-fasted" which was a Danish form of marriage, not legally recognised by the Anglo-Saxon church. Also called 'a concubine' in other reports.

Why didn't anyone age?
I mentioned that earlier, it is really quite ludicrous.
A great pity because the BBC did have a reputation for good drama and this is just rather ridiculous.

There are so many things in this programme that are not historically accurate that we are watching it with Google open.
Why didn't anyone age? Edward the Confessor was King for over 23 years, but the children were babies at his coronation and his death?
I hope nobody is taking this as history because it's complete fiction.

Hereward the Wake was dramatised by the BBC; it’s one of the first historical series I remember watching as a child. I loved it. I think the run up to 1066 was so complicated it would probably take. Ken Burns type documentary series to do it justice and I think they did quite a good précis of such a complicated period of time. Harold had several more brothers; his sister who married the king was also called Edith but they gave her the name of another sister to avoid confusion. I think the series was pretty good at showing the role women played at a time when all men seemed to think about was having battles.

Not a historical drama, just a complete fictional drama.
The only historical credit I gave to it was the small horses.

It is a great pity and an opportunity lost. Would have thought after the huge success of Hilary Mantel's books, someone would have realised that good historical fiction, well written can draw large audiences.

Do not think the description of Edith Swan-neck as Harold's 'common law wife', is very helpful. They were married properly according to the law at the time, just did not include the Church.

When I was a very young child, my older brother gave me a copy of Charles Kingsley's 'Hereward the Wake'. Not the most suitable book for an 8-year old, but it helped me fall in love with history as a whole. Perhaps some dramatisation of that book might have been a better introduction to this period, - many of the stories and legends of The Wake, are similar to those of Robin Hood.

Well, I’ve finished rewatching it and have to say I really enjoyed it second time around. Now to continue listening to the numerous pod casts about that period of history.

No, right first time 😁
Apologies, I'm very tired.

accurate
inaccurate
Thanks autocorrect. 🙄