WEBVTT

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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NARRATOR: On Christmas,
in 1066, Duke William

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becomes King William I,
William the Conqueror.

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 When the assembled crowd
of English and Normans

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were asked whether it was their
will that William be king,

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they cheered so loudly
that the Norman guards

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positioned outside
the Abbey panicked

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and thought there was a riot.

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So they set fire to
the surrounding houses.

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NARRATOR: The smoke
began to drive

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people from the coronation.

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But the new King didn't budge.

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DAN SNOW: William sat alone
on his newly acquired throne,

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as Westminster
burned around him.

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It was a fitting start to the
bloody rule of the Normans.

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NARRATOR: William spent
nearly a year plotting

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his invasion of England.

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[SHOUTING]

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He'd spend many
more years trying

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to subdue the English people.

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Eventually, William
would return to Normandy

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to fight over borders at home.

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By then, England was
firmly his and moving

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towards a new future.

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 William ended up spending most
of his reign back in Normandy,

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and it was there,
eventually, in 1087,

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that he died, a fat
and bloated shadow

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of his former warrior self.

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It was the end of one of
the most dramatic reigns

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in British history, a reign
that saw seismic changes

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to this country, the
results of which,

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like William's
great tower, we're

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still living with to this day.

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