The Norman Yoke

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss ‘the Norman Yoke’ - the idea that the Battle of Hastings sparked years of cruel oppression for the Anglo Saxons by a Norman ruling class. ‘Norman saw on English oak,On English neck a Norman yoke;Norman spoon in English dish,And England ruled as Normans wish.’Taken from Sir Walter Scott’s novel ‘Ivanhoe’, these words encapsulate the idea of ‘the Norman Yoke’ - that the Battle of Hastings sparked the cruel oppression of Anglo-Saxon liberties by a foreign ruling class. Certainly, William the Conqueror proclaimed his power in great castles and cathedrals, turned the church upside down and even changed the colour of scribal ink. But was it really such a terrible time for the Anglo Saxons or was the idea of beastly Norman oppressors and noble Saxon sufferers invented later to shore up the idea of Englishness?

→ Play on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• Sarah Foot 6 episodes
  Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Christ Church, Oxford
• Richard Gameson 6 episodes
  Professor in the Department of History at Durham University
• Matthew Strickland 3 episodes
  Professor of Medieval History at the University of Glasgow

Related episodes

• The Danelaw
  
  28 Mar, 2019 940 History of Europe
• The Battle of Stamford Bridge
  
  2 Jun, 2011 940 History of Europe
• The Tudor State
  
  26 Oct, 2000 940 History of Europe
• Cnut
  
  6 Apr, 2023 940 History of Europe
• Alfred and the Battle of Edington
  
  7 Apr, 2005 940 History of Europe
• Athelstan
  
  1 Jul, 2010 940 History of Europe
• The Davidian Revolution
  
  5 May, 2022 940 History of Europe
• The Dissolution of the Monasteries
  
  27 Mar, 2008 940 History of Europe
• The Battle of Lincoln 1217
  
  4 May, 2017 940 History of Europe
• The Domesday Book
  
  17 Apr, 2014 940 History of Europe
• The Peasants’ Revolt
  
  16 Nov, 2006 940 History of Europe
• Agincourt
  
  16 Sep, 2004 940 History of Europe
• The Battle of Bosworth Field
  
  26 Apr, 2012 940 History of Europe
• The Monarchy
  
  10 Jun, 1999 940 History of Europe
• The Trial of Charles I
  
  4 Jun, 2009 940 History of Europe
• The Anarchy
  
  1 Nov, 2012 940 History of Europe
• William Cecil
  
  7 Mar, 2019 940 History of Europe
• Thomas Becket
  
  14 Dec, 2017 270 History of Christianity
• The Siege of Orléans
  
  24 May, 2007 940 History of Europe
• Wyclif and the Lollards
  
  16 Jun, 2011 270 History of Christianity

---

Programme ID: b009q7zm

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b009q7zm

Auto-category: 940 (History of Europe)