As we move closer to the late Anglo-Saxon period, ie about 300 years after Alfred the Great's death, we get to know the decline of the Saxon rule in England in the way they were less ready to fight the Vikings than before. One particular king, Ethelred, seemed to have been gone down particularly bad in history, by being called "The Unready", although historians are divided whether that is an accurate translation of the Saxon title Ethelred was given. Some historians think he should be more accurately called "The Ill-advised", given the circumstances surrounding his rule.
We went to another Saxon encampment (Tiger just can't get enough of reenactments) where they were recreating the year 1012AD. We attended the court of Ethelred where we witnessed how crime and punishment were administered in three different cases: (1) a theft, (2) bearing a child out of wedlock, and (3) a neighbourly dispute.
We had a lot of time to look around the encampment, to talk and listen to the reenactors about their roles, their displays, and the period in which they are 'living' in.
Minting Saxon coins out of pewter.
There was a children's vike where they were "trained" to fight against the adults, after a few simple rules and instructions. Naturally, the battle was over in a few minutes with all the adult warriors being unceremoniously defeated.
After a short rest, the adult warriors showed their true prowess by having a weaponry and combat display, which Tiger watched with much enthusiasm.
The finale was a huge battle between the Saxons and the Vikings, although you would not be able to tell who was who from the photographs, since their armour and helmets were so similar.
The turbulent late Saxon period finally came to an end with King Harold losing the kingdom to William of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings, the reenactment of which we attended at the actual site last October. We have studied this event so many times before that it needs no further work, apart from the very glaring error we found in SOTW2 that really bothered us, which we feel we must point out here: we have never heard of King Harold being called "Harold the Unfortunate" by anyone in England, and there definitely isn't an inscription of this kind on his tombstone, see evidence below:
King Harold's tombstone at Waltham Abbey
A stone plaque at Battle that marks the spot where King Harold fell.
I think many English still regard King Harold as a tragic hero rather than simply an unfortunate king who happened to lose a decisive battle. The circumstances surrounding the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings are much more complex than how SOTW2 has depicted them. The way SOTW2 has oversimplified (and errorneously reported) events that we happen to be very familiar with makes us question the credibility of the book. It is nonetheless useful for Tiger to acquire a healthy sense of skepticism toinformation presented by "popular textbooks" and "experts".
The Viking and mid-to-late Saxon periods in British History overlapped much. It has been an interesting experience to revisit this period again, now that Tiger is able to identify much discrepancies in the "facts" presented by the various information sources that we are consulting in our study. For example, we have been spotting and discussing quite a few not-so-accurate parts in the SOTW2 version of British History, which has been very useful for Tiger to understand an authentic study of history requires comparison of different interpretations, inquiry, research, critical assessment, and continual questioning of what we think we knew. I am very pleased that we are able to enter into such discussions, which is only possible due to the wide exposure to different information sources as well as Tiger's strong interest in history.
The turbulent middle period of the Anglo-Saxons (around 800 AD) was plagued by frequent Viking invasions as well as internal tribal conflicts. We started with books and articles in history magazines:
We attended a lecture held at an university about warfare, medicine and development of the modern English language from the Saxon language which intermingled with the Old Norse language and finally developed into Old English.
The greatest English king of all, and the only one to be called "The Great", was Alfred of Wessex. We learnt about him from various folklores about King Alfred's Cakes (a type of fungus), and from various documentaries, most notably an old documentary from Michael Wood. We also found a more recent and generic but detailed introduction to the Saxon period by David Starkey to be very useful:
The day of the Battle of Hastings, when William the Conqueror defeated King Harold Godwinson and brought the feudal system into England, along with many other social changes to this country.
Tiger has been fascinated by this event eversince we started studying British History last autumn, and he had studied the Bayuex Tapestry many times so we are very familiar with the stories that led up to the event.
Norman knight all dressed up and ready for battle.
Last weekend, we drove a long way down to Battle to attend the event. I must say that all of us were blown away by how fantastic this event was put together by the re-enactors. There must have been at least 1,000 re-enactors from UK, Europe and North America. We have been to Battle a few times in the past but yesterday was the most crowded day we have seen at the site.
The entire day was activity filled. If nothing else, just walking around the Norman camp and the Saxon camp (both camps were on opposite sides of the battlefield) was enough to learn about the way people lived, dressed and worked at that time.
Our first stop was the Naval Battle stop where a Norman boatman showed the children a replica Norman boat that would have been used by William I's army to sail over the English Channel. The boatman also gave a detailed description of how the boats would have been built, the materials that were used to build, paint and maintain them.
Holding a jar of tar that would have been used in Norman times to paint boats.
Being a family-oriented event, there was a chance for the children to be engaged in the naval battle by pretending to be Norman soldiers on board the invading boats that were about to cross the channel. The children were taught how to steer the boat, what to do if they met bad weather (as one would expect while crossing the channel), and how to fend off a Viking ship they would meet on the way.
There was also storytelling. We heard the story of The Battle of Maldon which involved the Vikings and the Saxons.
The Norman Calvary and Infantry Display was very impressive. During the one hour display, the commentator and re-enactors did a marvellous job at helping us understand the weaponry and training that the Normans had in preparation for the battle.
Tiger could not wait to get involved in the Kids' Battle of Hastings! Actually, none of the boys (I didn't see any girl taking part in this activity) could wait. The man who ran the programme had only 10 minutes to explain what the rules of the battle were (no hitting on the face or anywhere on the neck, or jabbing into anyone's sides) and to divide the children into Saxons and Normans, before he handed out the foam swords, which promptly led to his losing control of the mob.
After the carnage of the kids' battle, we headed over to the Novices' Room in the abbey ruins to listen to a very knowledgeable man explaining the history of Western music and performing music of the Norman period. He also gave a short but detailed explanation and demonstration of the instruments used during that time: bells, harp organistrum, psaltery, claves and horn.
The lady's voice was gorgeous, as they sang and performed music that would have been familiar to the monks who lived in Battle Abbey. Hear it for yourselves below:
After the calm of the music, the actual battle took place on the battlefield where Saxon England was lost to the Normans 945 years ago.
The re-enactment was truly excellent. We have been to very many historical re-enactments and this one was particularly spectacular and engaging. While the battle scene unfolded before our eyes, a commentator gave a concise yet very thorough narration of the events leading up to the battle, from King Edward to King Harold's accend to the throne, to the 2 other battles Harold had to fight before meeting William on this battlefield.
The commentator who did a wonderful job narrating the historical event.
You can catch the atmosphere of the re-enactment by following the official video made by English Heritage in 2006: part 1 and part 2. As far as I am concerned, King Harold's was a tragedy. Often times, people just gather one side of the story from the Bayuex Tapestry and only concentrated on the winner, William I. However, if one were to search a little deeper into the story and read different sources of the events that led to this battle, as well as looking into the backgrounds of both men, you can have a pretty good guess at their characters.
An article in a history magazine about Matilda, William I's wife, and their relationship as a couple.
At the present moment Tiger is keen to align himself with the winning side (hence him choosing to dress up as a Norman rather than a Saxon for the event), while Tortoise and I both sympathise with King Harold. In Tiger's 7-year-old mind, there is no question that he wants to be with the winner -- who doesn't? The complexities of the situation is beyond his understanding at this age, but I look forward to having more complex and indepth discussions with him in our second and third rounds of studying the Norman period. It is very easy to align oneself with the victor, but the truth is often not so straightforward, as the following documentary will show:
David Starkey's documentary continues the story of William I after the conquest. This post is linked up to several blog hops, where you can visit to see what other homeschoolers have been busy with.
