Okay, before we return to our story, I want to talk about something that I'd be getting emails about lately.

You see, before we had the episode on the Battle of Hastings, I got emails asking if we'd ever reach the conquest.

And now that we're there, I'm starting to get emails asking if we're ever going to get past the conquest.

And I think one of the reasons why I get these kinds of emails is because when many of you start the show,

there are hundreds of episodes for you to binge through, and so you can listen to them as long as you want whenever you want.

But once you catch up, it starts to feel like forever to get to a new episode.

But I really haven't changed. I'm still doing what I've always done.

When I hit something important, I always give it the attention and the time it deserves.

I mean, I'm still the same guy who spent literally months talking about food, drink, clothing, and construction.

And actually, I got emails when I was covering that period too.

The fact is, the BHP is a strange beast, and I really appreciate that you guys stick with me on it,

because I do go about it in kind of a wild way.

But at the same time, it does make a thing that doesn't exist anywhere else.

Because ultimately, the way most pop history talks about history during this period is along the lines of

William arrived. Everyone was impressed with how cool and awesome he was.

And so they came out of their caves. They stopped being cavemen.

And then everyone spent their time in sexy jousting tournaments.

Then eventually, Henry VIII got married, and he just kind of kept getting married.

And that approach gives you the impression that nothing important happened before the conquest,

and also nothing important really happened after the conquest for a long time.

But this is a very important period, and it's also highly complex, especially the period after

the Battle of Hastings. I mean, think about it this way. Can you remember back a few decades ago,

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