The Normans

★ 6 · 2010 · 60m · Documentary

The Normans is a British television documentary series first aired on BBC Two in 2010. Over three episodes, it sees Professor Robert Bartlett's journey from Great Britain via Jerusalem to the Kingdom of Sicily to examine the expansion and ambition of the Normans between the 10th and 13th centuries.

Episodes

▶1. Men from the North60m · In the first episode of an exciting three-part series, Professor Robert Bartlett explores how the Normans developed from a band of marauding Vikings into the formidable warriors who conquered England in 1066. He tells how the Normans established their new province of Normandy -'land of the northmen' - in northern France. They went on to build some of the finest churches in Europe and turned into an unstoppable force of Christian knights and warriors, whose legacy is all around us to this day. Under the leadership of Duke William, the Normans expanded into the neighbouring provinces of northern France. But William's greatest achievement was the conquest of England in 1066. The Battle of Hastings marked the end of the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy and monarchy. The culture and politics of England would now be transformed by the Normans.▶2. Conquest60m · In the second of this three-part series, Professor Robert Bartlett explores the impact of the Norman conquest of Britain and Ireland. Bartlett shows how William the Conqueror imposed a new aristocracy, savagely cut down opposition and built scores of castles and cathedrals to intimidate and control. He also commissioned the Domesday Book, the greatest national survey of England that had ever been attempted.▶3. Normans of the South60m · Professor Robert Bartlett explores the impact of the Normans on southern Europe and the Middle East. The Normans spread south in the 11th century, winning control of southern Italy and the island of Sicily. There they created their most prosperous kingdom, where Christianity and Islam co-existed in relative harmony and mutual tolerance. It became a great centre of medieval culture and learning.▶4. Domesday60m · In this programme on the Domesday Book, Dr Stephen Baxter, medieval historian at King's College, London, reveals the human and political drama that lies within the parchment of England's earliest surviving public record. He also finds out the real reason it was commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.

More Like This

Histoire populaire des impôts

2022 · ★ 8

No synopsis available.

More info →

Private Lives of the Monarchs

2017 · ★ 7

Tracy Borman reveals the intimate details of the monarchs, to find out what really went on in their private lives.

More info →

Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War

2013 · ★ 7

The Hundred Years’ war between England and France gave us the victories of Crecy and Agincourt, and made the reputations of Edward III and Henry V. It gave France a national heroine in Joan of Arc. But, even now, the jury is out as to its causes and outcome. Was it the final swansong of a redundant knightly class whose only reason for being was to fight? Was it a battle over ever more important territory to the emerging economies of England and France? Or was it the painful birth of two distinct national identities, forged through their long and violent divorce? Dr Janina Ramirez guides us through the stories of kings, great knights, bloody battles and cultural triumphs of this momentous conflict.

More info →

Sensacje XX wieku

1983 · ★ 7.6

No synopsis available.

More info →

Michael Portillo's 200 Years of the Railways

2025

Michael Portillo celebrates the modern railway’s 200th birthday, revealing the journey that changed the world.

More info →

King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons

2013 · ★ 7

Michael Wood argues that the most important and influential British kings were a father, son and grandson who lived over a thousand years ago during the age of the Vikings.

More info →

Spying on the Royals

2017 · ★ 8

This 2-part documentary series reveals the truth about King Edward VIII's affair with American divorcée Wallis Simpson, and the espionage operation that accompanied the investigation.

More info →

Time Team

1994 · ★ 7.3

Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on British Channel 4 from 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode featured a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining the process in layman's terms. This team of specialists changed throughout the series' run, although has consistently included professional archaeologists such as Mick Aston, Carenza Lewis, Francis Pryor and Phil Harding. The sites excavated over the show's run have ranged in date from the Palaeolithic right through to the Second World War.

More info →