Conquered

The Norman Conquest is one of the most momentous events in English history and its consequences changed England forever. Indeed, the Battle of Hastings and its aftermath nearly wiped out the leading Anglo-Saxon families – so, what happened to the children this conflict left behind? Conquered: The Last Children of Anglo-Saxon England offers a fresh take on the Norman Conquest by exploring the lives of those children who found themselves completely uprooted by the dramatic events of 1066. Among them were the children of Harold Godwineson and his brothers, survivors of a family shattered by the conquest, who were led by their courageous grandmother Gytha to seek new lives in Scandinavia and Russia. Then there were the teenagers and last remaining heirs of the Anglo-Saxon royal line – Edgar Ætheling, Margaret, and Christina – who sought refuge in Scotland and where Margaret grew up to be a beloved queen and saint. Other survivors, such as Waltheof of Northumbria and the Fenland hero Hereward, became legendary for rebelling against the Norman conquerors. And, finally, some descendants like Eadmer of Canterbury chose to influence history themselves by recording their own memories of the pre-conquest world. From sagas and saints’ lives to chronicles and romances, Conquered draws on a wide range of medieval sources to tell the stories of the young men and women of this generation and shine a much-needed spotlight on the role they played in developing Anglo-Norman society. These tales – some reinterpreted and retold over the centuries and others carelessly forgotten by history – are ones of endurance, adaptation and vulnerability and, ultimately, they all reveal a generation of young people who bravely navigated a lost world and in turn shaped the country that England was to become