Tag: Bayeux Tapestry

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Why is 1066 Important to Paris? —Part Two

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A Chronicle of England – The Death of Harold James Doyle (1864), Public Domain, Wikipedia Commons

We last left Edward the Confessor, king of England, as he died in January 1066 without leaving any offspring to succeed him. Who was going to be the next king of England? Would it be Duke William of Normandy, a distant cousin, or Earl Harold Godwin? What about the small child named Edgar brought back to England from Hungary by King Edward? Edgar’s family was part of a branch of Edward’s family exiled many years earlier (about the same time Edward was forced into exile in Normandy).

The Battle of Hastings

Let’s fast forward nine months to October 1066. A lot has happened between Edward’s death and October. Duke William gets annoyed that Harold has been crowned king of England after the crown had reportedly been offered to him by Edward (and Harold even went so far as to take a solemn oath to support William in this regard). So what does Duke William do? He puts together a fleet of Norman soldiers and invades England to claim his crown (William’s wife, Matilda, funds and outfits the ship William would sail in).

He and his men meet Harold and the Anglo-Saxon warriors on a hilly field in Hastings, a small village about an hour away from London on the southern coast of England. It was a fierce battle but in the end, Harold is killed and Duke William becomes the next king of England. He is now known for posterity as William the Conqueror. The future of England and France is changed forever. By the way, the next time this happens is on D-Day, 6 June 1944, when the invasion is reversed.

The Aftermath

Read More Why is 1066 Important to Paris? —Part Two

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Why is 1066 Important to Paris? — Part One

I am about six weeks away from publishing the first two books of the walking tours in Paris (Where Did They Put the Guillotine? — A Walking Tour of Revolutionary Paris (1789–1794) —Volumes One and Two).

What this means is I am feverishly working on the third book entitled, Where Did They Burn the Last Grand Master of the Knights Templar? — A Walking Tour of Medieval Paris (987–1547). All the research is done, images picked out, and tour routes established. All I need to do is get the darn thing written (the first walk is done).

Beginning

Site of Harold’s Death Photo by my wife, Sandy
Site of Harold’s Death
Photo by my wife, Sandy

Where do I begin the background story of medieval Paris during the Middle Ages? It is generally recognized that the Middle Ages began around AD 300 and ended around 1500. Paris began as a settlement of the Parisii tribe, one of many Celtic tribes. By 250 BC, the Parisii’s had built up quite a little commercial trading and shipping community. The Romans came in around AD 358 and founded what was known as Lutetia (compare this to the Roman settlement in England called Londinium — founded in AD 50 and abandoned in the 5th century.)

Historians break down the Middle Ages into three groupings: the Early Middle Ages (AD 300 to 1000), the High Middle Ages (1000 to 1300), and the Late Middle Ages (1300 to 1500). Do you remember hearing the term, The Dark Ages? Back in junior high history class, I thought it was because the sun never came up — perpetual nighttime and darkness. Not so. The dark ages pertained to the early Middle Ages when it was a period of time that it seems no written records were created (or at least could be found). Historians don’t use the term dark ages any longer — we know the sun actually did come up. It wasn’t until we get into the High Middle Ages that we begin to see written records and can follow the written history of the world and in particular, England, France, and Paris. Read More Why is 1066 Important to Paris? — Part One