As soon as William entered England, he started to build the ultimate tool of control: castles. These symbolic powerhouses display how William stamped his authority on England. In this episode, Jack visits Buckenham Castle to gain a better understanding of a typical Norman castle.
The Welsh presented problems for the Anglo-Saxons; William wanted to further strengthen this border, so created the Marcher Earldoms. In this episode, Jack visits a castle in Herefordshire, still displaying signs of its construction in 1067.
Three earls in 1075 decided to rebel against William, but this was not like the revolts before. In this episode, Jack visits Norwich to show explores the reasons why it happened, situated between two villages listed to have been scorched by Norman soldiers.
It wasn’t just castles that William built to stamp his mark on England. The Normans were Christian: this sees a complete restructuring of the English church as well as new Romanesque architecture. In this episode, Jack visits St Albans Abbey, one of the Cathedrals built under William I.
