1066: The Norman Conquest of Britain

Did you know that, just like Bengal and wider India, Britain was conquered? That’s right, just around the time the Palas were expanding their Bengali Empire, the Norman Duke, William, landed on the South courts of England and engaged in warfare with the then Kind Harold of England, in a year that remains engraved in our conciliatory today: 1066.

If we mention 1066, does it elicit past images of half torn dreary Primary School textbooks? If so, you’re not alone and we were hesitant to ‘go there’! But we did and as we look back with our proud British Bengali lenses on, we see things a little differently and are fascinated by it.

Our last post on exploring the past was on the Pala Empire, where a powerful Bengal Empire formed and flourished and was at its peak at a similar time period, also around 1066 CE, Britain was conquered by their French neighbours.

So, take a look at our slides and have a renewed look into the ‘Dark Ages’ of medieval Britain and find out more about how Britain was conquered…how words we use today emerged. It involves exiling of rulers, family treachery, multiple claims to the throne, seizing of power, a bloody war, and an epic poem to go with it (sound a bit ‘Eastern’?)

• TBA