The Series King and Conqueror is now over
The series King and Conqueror on BBC1 culminated with the Battle of Hastings. I gave my initial thoughts in an earlier post after seeing the first episode. Most of those comments remain valid in my opinion, although I have got used to the different characters and the changes of scene.
What about other reviews of the series King and Conqueror?
Many people, even those who enjoyed it, criticised the series for its historical inaccuracies. I have not studied that period very much but I will mention some elements which I must challenge.
What inaccuracies?
- I thought there were more than three earls in England in 1066 and that all swore allegiance to the king.
- The Witan was a council of nobles and bishops who advised the king. The Witan supported Harold’s claim to the throne, regardless of whatever Edward the Confessor did or did not say on his deathbed.
- I had not heard of Morcar of Mercia but I did not think any major nobleman withheld his support for Harold. William did not include any Saxons in his government.
- It is often stated that Harold offered Tostig a chance to abandon Harald Hardrada and rejoin the Saxons. I had never heard that Harold killed his half-brother personally, although he did die in the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
- I understood that Harold had several other brothers who fought beside him and died at Hastings.
- The Bayeux Tapestry shows Harold standing and clutching at his face when he gets the arrow in the eye. I am not aware of any claim that William pushed the arrow into Harold’s eye when he was dead or dying.
- The end of the battle did not come when Harold died. His brothers and all the nobility fought to the last man. William had his soldiers kill all the wounded and he took no prisoners. Thus there was no leader around whom the Saxons could rally in future. I believe that all English aristocrats can trace their ancestry back to the Normans, apart from those whom subsequent kings ennobled.
- Black faces seemed out of place in the England of 1066. I will write about that in a separate post.
Characters
As the series progressed, I found myself feeling less sympathy for any of the main characters. Their cruelty, selfishness and duplicity appalled me, even though we had seen how badly they in turn had suffered at the hands of others. I began to cease caring who was going to win, but by the end, my natural sympathy for Harold reasserted itself to some extent. However, a story needs a hero, however flawed, such as Billy Rhys, the main character in my series, Highwaypersons.
Even a Highwayman can be a hero, unlike the rivals in the series King and Conqueror
Overall
If even a half of the above points are valid, the BBC should be ashamed! The Battle of Hastings and the events leading up to it form a major turning point in the history of England and there are plenty of contemporary documents telling the tale. I am therefore very disappointed that the makers of this series did not ensure a higher level of historical accuracy. Had this been about some more obscure episode in our history, it would have made an interesting drama, regardless of the facts. Overall, this is a wasted opportunity.