During the Dark Ages, there were a number of invasions of what is today “England.” Some of them were before the state of England was created, while others of them happened long after its formation. But if you want a good television overview of these invasions, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better one than Michael Wood’s “In Search of the Dark Ages,” made for the BBC in the late seventies and early eighties.
This series covers a number of invasions of what is today “England” …
Many have said that “In Search of the Dark Ages” is a poor title for this documentary. Perhaps “In Search of the British Dark Ages” would have been a better title. But originally, there was no title at all for this collection of episodes. Each episode was just called “In Search of” someone-or-other, with each episode focusing on a different “someone” from this period (always a monarch). At most, people might have called it the “In Search of” series. But the BBC later decided to market it as “In Search of the Dark Ages.” This is ironic, because the episode whose history is earliest actually covers someone who died long before the Dark Ages ever began. This is the episode entitled “In Search of Boadicea,” with “Boadicea” being a later misspelling of the name “Boudica.” (The host pronounces this woman’s name as “Boudica” during the episode itself.) There are some other potential inaccuracies of this title, as I will mention later. But suffice it to say at present that Boudica lived during the Roman Empire, and the Dark Ages did not begin until the Roman Empire later fell in the fifth century.
Michael Wood, the presenter of the series
The Celts were the first inhabitants of the British Isles, which was later invaded by the Romans
So who was this “Boudica” – or “Boadicea,” if you prefer? Boudica was a Celtic British queen – the queen of the “Iceni” tribe, to be specific. Her Celtic ancestors were among the original human inhabitants of the British Isles. They were there long before anyone else was. But by the time that she arrived on the scene, there was one other major force to be reckoned with in the British Isles. That force was the Roman Empire. The Romans had a strong presence in Britain, and occupied much of the Celtic land. But Queen Boudica was not happy about the Roman control of her nation. Thus, she led a revolt against the Romans in the first century AD, and caused quite an uproar at that time. To make a long story short, though, the revolt was soon crushed, and the Romans maintained their control of Britain. The archeological evidence from her reign is somewhat scant, but there is enough to confirm that she was a real person, and that she really did lead this revolt. The episode about her is the only one to focus on a woman. It is also the only one to take place during Roman Empire times, before the Dark Ages had officially begun. A pilot episode had been made before this, but the Boudica episode should be the first episode that one watches, if one wants to observe the chronology of the events themselves. It is an interesting episode, and a fitting introduction to the series – if you decide to watch it first, rather than watching the pilot episode first.
A statue of the Celtic British queen Boudica (later misspelled “Boadicea”) and her daughters
When the Romans withdrew from Britain, the Anglo-Saxons would soon take their place
The next episode is called “In Search of Arthur.” The person referred to here is King Arthur, the same who was dramatized in medieval romances about the “Knights of the Round Table” and so forth. But was Arthur even a real person in the first place? We don’t really know for certain – or at all, for that matter. Michael Wood refrains from claiming that Arthur actually existed. Rather, he uses the King Arthur legends as a starting point from which to talk about a much broader story. The “broader story” is just what happened when the Romans withdrew their legions from Britain. In the year 410, the same year that the city of Rome was sacked, the Romans withdrew their legions from the British Isles. Celtic Britain was now free of foreign invaders, or so everyone thought at the time. But soon after the Romans withdrew, the Anglo-Saxons took their place. They were a group of Germanic tribes from across the Channel, and they were coming into Britain to stay. It was the Anglo-Saxons that created what we today know as “England.” The word “England” comes from the Angles, a group that formed the “Anglo” part of the compound word “Anglo-Saxons.” From this same group comes the word “English,” the name for the language in which I’m writing this post. The King Arthur legends seem to place his reign sometime during this period. Thus, Michael Wood spends some time discussing this period, and giving the historical backdrop of the King Arthur legends. I enjoyed the historical backdrop even more than I enjoyed his discussion of the legends themselves. Michael Wood certainly helped me to better understand the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain.
A later picture of the legendary King Arthur, who may or may not be a real person
But unlike the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons were there to stay
The third episode is the only part that’s out of sequence from the others. That’s because this episode was the pilot episode, whose popularity helped to justify the production of the other seven episodes. (There are eight in all.) But in terms of the events themselves, this would chronologically be the third episode. That is the spot in which you find it in this DVD set. That episode is simply called “In Search of Offa.” Offa was then the King of Mercia, one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Thus, Michael Wood continues his discussion of Anglo-Saxon England in this episode. You can see why the episode was popular enough to win the needed funding for these other seven episodes. Nonetheless, you would probably be better off watching it after you see their episode about the King Arthur legends. This will give you some background about the Anglo-Saxon presence in Britain, and how it had all begun.
A coin depicting Offa, the king of Mercia at the time
The next group to invade was the Vikings …
The next group to invade this region was the Vikings. Thus, Episodes 4 through 7 focus on the Viking era in Britain. Why does this period receive such seemingly disproportionate coverage, with a full four episodes dedicated to it (which amounts to half of the total number of episodes)? I have my own guesses on this. For one, the Vikings make up a substantial portion of the “Dark Ages,” as experienced in Britain. For another, there were two Viking invasions of Britain, rather than just one. Thus, if you want to talk about the “Dark Ages” as experienced in Britain, there’s a lot of Viking history to talk about there. Alfred the Great led the Anglo-Saxon resistance to the first Viking invasion. Thus, an entire episode is focused on Alfred the Great. He’s the only English monarch to be titled “the Great.” His grandson Athelstan led another generation of English resistance to the Viking invaders, and is thus covered in the following episode.
Athelstan presenting a book to St. Cuthbert
… who would actually invade England twice
The episode after that is about “Eric Bloodaxe,” the last Viking king of the English kingdom of Northumbria. In contrast to most of the other people covered here, very little is known about Eric Bloodaxe’s life. But unlike King Arthur, Eric Bloodaxe was almost certainly a real person. They talk about how he defended the Viking conquests from the Anglo-Saxons trying to reclaim the land for the English. Eric Bloodaxe was a true warrior, both tough and battle-hardened. Eventually, he died leading an army in battle. Some decades after his death, the Vikings invaded England for the second time. The next episode is thus about “Ethelred the Unready,” an English king who resisted this second Viking invasion. Ethelred is known for two things: losing this war to the Vikings, and exterminating many of the Viking-descended Englishmen. This amounted to a kind of genocide. The word “unready” meant something different in this time. But regardless of its exact meaning, Ethelred is one of the most incompetent kings in English history. The episode about him is the last of the four Viking-era episodes, and the second-to-last in the series as a whole.
Ethelred the Unready
Finally, England was invaded by the Normans in 1066
The last episode of the series is about “William the Conqueror.” He was descended from Vikings who spoke Old Norse, but he was born in Northern France, and spoke French as his native language. He was born in Normandy, a region of France that had been named after his Norse ancestors. This is also the origin of the name “Normans,” the group that William was a part of. He was the last person to invade England successfully, during the now-infamous Norman conquest of 1066. Most would say that his life began after the Dark Ages had ended. Thus, this is the other part of the series that may not quite fit into the title of “In Search of the Dark Ages.” But whenever you place it, this episode is a fitting conclusion to what I consider the primary topic of this series: the various invasions of what is today “England.” Again, the Normans were the last to do so, although others have tried since then – such as Napoleon and Hitler, both of whom failed to actually invade England.
William the Conqueror, as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry
Conclusion: This is an excellent television overview of “Dark Ages” Britain
Other documentaries have covered different aspects of the Dark Ages. These include the History Channel’s “The Dark Ages,” and the BBC’s “The Dark Ages: An Age of Light” (which focuses on the art of that era). But this is definitely the best overview of “Dark Ages” Britain – or, at least, it’s the best such overview that you’re likely to find for television. At eight episodes long, it introduces its viewers to most of the invasions of Britain. The only one that it doesn’t cover is the Roman invasion itself (arguably the earliest one), since it starts after the Romans had already gained a foothold in Britain – with the earliest-noted episode on Boudica starting with her revolt against them. But they do cover the invasions by the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings, and the Normans – the last of the relevant groups. Two other series then pick up where this series left off, which are David Starkey’s “Monarchy” (which first aired in 2004) and Simon Schama’s “A History of Britain” (which first aired in 2000). The respective first episodes of these latter series both race through this period at breakneck speed, while this documentary delves into it in somewhat more detail – allowing you to appreciate what happened therein. This was a turbulent period, and thus makes for fascinating television – particularly with this program’s excellent storytelling by Michael Wood. Thus, this program is much recommended for medievalists, or for anyone interested in British history.
Footnote to this blog post:
As far as I know, this DVD is only available in Europe’s “Region 2” format. Therefore, it will not play on most DVD players in North America. I would be remiss as a reviewer, if I did not mention this for my American readers.
If you liked this post, you might also like:
Part of a series about
British history
The Dark Ages in Britain
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment