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- 1.262304E9
- Wood starts in a Bradford on Avon church, where he states that Æthelred has arguably the poorest reputation of any English king. At the Bodleian Library Wood accesses the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, where a story of disaster, defeat and governmental collapse unfolds. Wood recalls the failure in 991 at Maldon, which led to vast payments of Danegeld, and visits the British Museum to examine coins of the period. He then recounts the St. Brice's Day massacre of 1002 and Sweyn Forkbeard's retaliatory raids, and the failure of the Anglo-Saxon fleet at Sandwich Bay, Kent in 1009. He then details the loss of Canterbury, and the 12 million silver coin ransom paid in 1012. Wood finally ponders the legacy of Æthelred the "un-red" or un-counselled through the exploits of his son and the rise of Sweyn's son Cnut. (en)
- Wood begins in the Churchill War Rooms with the story of England's desperate struggle against the Vikings. Travelling along The Ridgeway he describes the Battle of Ashdown which helped Alfred gain the kingship. Later, at Hamwic, Wessex's major port, the Danes devastated trade and the local economy, before moving on to Wareham, Exeter, and Gloucester. After the ambush at Chippenham, his kingdom reached its nadir in the nearby marshes of Athelney . He risked all at the Battle of Edington, and established stability via the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum. At Wareham, Winchester, London, and Lyng, Wood then discusses how Alfred re-engineered an "upsurge in urban life". At the Bodleian Library he reviews Alfred's second great revolution, that of literacy. (en)
- Wood begins in the Abbey of Malmesbury, Wiltshire, where the tomb of Æthelstan - arguably the first "King of the English", stands. The grandson of Alfred the Great, he reigned over the realms of Wessex, Mercia, and the Danelaw, and later Northumbria. In 927, he swept north, capturing Danish Jórvík, receiving the vassalage of the fortress of Bamburgh, and the submission of British lords at Eamont Bridge, Hereford, and Exeter, becoming the first southern king to achieve lordship over northern Britain. Styling himself as "Emperor", he shifted focus to church patronage such as St Nectan's and St Cuthbert's, reaffirming the River Wye as the Welsh border, alongside city and shire administrative reform. In 939, he overcame his greatest threat at the Battle of Brunanburh, which Wood places at Brinsworth. (en)
- Wood reflects on the effect of cross-channel invasions and their impact on history. He suggests that the Norman Conquest is the arguably most famous event in British history and also the most controversial. Beginning his search in Normandy, he traces the early life of William, as a bastard then a Duke, and of the Normans as vikings and then knights. Wood interviews curator Michel de Boüard who describes William as the daring single-minded political genius of his time. After securing his duchy, through familial ties, he was drawn into England's succession crisis. Woods examines the Bayeux Tapestry then travels to the battlefields at Stamford Bridge and Hastings. As the Normans forged their hold on England by building motte-and-bailey castles everywhere, the Anglo-Saxon era came to an end. In the Public Record Office in London, Wood consults the Domesday Book with a lament at the passing of the chief makers of England. (en)
- Starting at a Victorian statue of Boadicea and Her Daughters, Wood seeks evidence of Boudica, Queen of the Iceni. He describes the bloody and destructive revolt she led. Starting with the Iceni presence around present day Norfolk, he finds little evidence of their settlements but much more of their metalworking. At Jesus College, Oxford, he examines a manuscript by Tacitus revealing some of the background to the revolt. At Colchester he looks at colonial life and the increased threat of revolt. He traces the revolt from vaults of the Temple of Claudius, to Londinium, Watling Street, Manduessedum , Lunt Roman Fort and Venta Icenorum. (en)
- Wood seeks evidence of a lost Chronicle of Eric Haraldsson, the last Norse king of Northumbria. Starting in Howden Minster, he retraces events in multicultural Jórvík and the Church of St Mary, noting the role of Arch-bishop Wulfstan. Wood assembles the scattered citations and references to the lost work, then follows the trail to the crypt of Ripon Cathedral, the "rescue" of the relics of St Wilfrid by Eadred in 948, and the ambush at Castleford. With the threat of reprisals, Bloodaxe is forced into exile and obscurity, until his sudden return and reinstatement in 952. At the Gosforth Cross, he ponders the mingling of Christian and Norse mythologies, and Bloodaxe's baptism at St Cuthbert's. He ends at the Battle of Stainmore and the failing of Northumbrian independence. (en)
- Wood begins his search for King Arthur at Glastonbury Abbey, where the fabricated mythology of medieval times flourished. Citing William of Malmesbury's uncertainty, he travels to Portchester seeking traces of the Anglo-Saxon influx and the ebbing of Romano-British identity. At Wroxeter Roman City, Cirencester and Withington he finds evidence of the decline of organised urban life, and the expansion of rural life. The reoccupation of hillforts, such as Cadbury Castle, led to the successful indigenous defence at the Battle of Badon. At the British Library he consults the Harleian genealogies, but finds little that is reliable. Finally at Bremenium and Carlisle he finds hints that Arthur may have lived and died further north than legend states. (en)
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