Harold Godwinson: The Last Anglo-Saxon King
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 13.7K Ratings
🗓️ 20 February 2024
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dr Eleanor Janega and Matt Lewis uncover the stories of the protagonists and events that led up to the Battle of Hastings. There’s Harold Godwinson, the Anglo-Saxon Lord who became the king of a people only recently brought together; Harald Hardrada, a legendary Viking warrior seeking to rebuild the North Sea Empire to which he believes himself heir; and William the Conqueror, descended from pagan Vikings, now the Christian Duke of Normandy. The lives of millions of people for centuries to come will be inextricably linked to their actions in that fateful year of 1066.
In this first episode, Eleanor finds out more about Harold Godwinson from Professor Levi Roach.
This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code DANSNOW sign up at https://historyhit/subscription/
We'd love to hear from you- what do you want to hear an episode on? You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.
You can take part in our listener survey here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi everybody welcome to Dan Snow's history is that time of the week when we play one of our sibling |
| 0:06.2 | podcasts we have a whole family of podcasts at team history hit and one of our more successful ones is gone medieval where Dr. |
| 0:14.4 | Eleanor Janiger and Matt Lewis talk all about the Middle Ages. |
| 0:18.8 | In this particular episode they're going for the big one. |
| 0:20.8 | They're uncovering the stories of the events of the people that led up to the |
| 0:24.9 | Battle of Hastings in a little old year called 1066. It's a fateful year. It's endlessly fascinating. There's a whole season out on gone medieval and the first episode of it, |
| 0:34.5 | Eleanor finds out more about Harold Godwinson from the excellent Professor Levi Roach. |
| 0:40.3 | Enjoy. |
| 0:42.3 | In the mists of the distant past, three roads lead to a meeting point. |
| 0:48.9 | A single road leads away from it. |
| 0:52.0 | At the junction sits a great prize. |
| 0:54.5 | It offers wealth, power, and entry into the history books. |
| 0:58.2 | Three men drive their horses faster and harder along the three roads, each determined to claim the prize for himself. |
| 1:06.0 | There will be a collision and the prize will only be won in blood. |
| 1:11.0 | From one road comes an Anglo-Saxon lord who has become the king of a people |
| 1:15.5 | only recently brought together. From another a Viking warrior of legendary stature seeking |
| 1:21.2 | to rebuild the North Sea Empire to which he believes |
| 1:24.0 | himself heir. The third is descended from pagan Vikings now made Christian |
| 1:29.6 | Frenchman. The three warriors are Harold Godwinson, Harold Hadrada, and William the Conqueror. |
| 1:36.0 | What none of them sees is the weight of the prize they seek. |
| 1:39.0 | The lives of millions over centuries to come will be inextricably linked to the result of the clash these |
| 1:46.2 | three men charge headlong into. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.