A Young Person's Guide to the Battle of Hastings

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• published: 19 Dec 2012
• views: 128856

Here's a quick film I made for one of my kid's class (8 - 10 year olds). They were studying the middle ages this term and the call went out to parents to come in and give a little talk to the class, and I thought this would be more entertaining than some middle-aged git rambling on about history to them. EDIT: There have been some notable complaints about some of my omissions in this video, so let me just add the following: 1) Personally, I'm more interested in the social consequences of history rather than the nuts-and-bolts details of how battles were fought, hence this isn;t the most in-depth summary of how the fight was won, sorry. 2) as several viewers have pointed out, Harold Godwinson had just forced-marched his men south after successfully seeing off the 3rd claimant to the English throne, Norse King Harold Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, and there is a very real possibility fresher troops might have carried the day. 3) Middle English is more the language of Chaucer than Shakespeare. All things being equal, it is still extremely gratifying to read all of the positive feedback this video has garnered from young people bored to tears by dry homework texts rabbiting on about forced marches and the importance of the stirrup in revolutionising medieval warfare. For those seeking a more in-depth summation of the Battle, I heartily recommend checking out Simon Schama's excellent History of Britain series. Maybe not if you're 9, though.