Norman Conquest Encyclopedia

Present knowledge of the events of the Norman Conquest depends on information provided by the Bayeux Tapestry and the works of the various chroniclers. These men (almost certainly women were not involved) recorded the events of their time, as in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, or the events of relatively recent history. They were working from material of questionable reliability, often word-of-mouth accounts that had been handed on down a chain of people, and were open to influence such as the desire or necessity to please a powerful patron or lord. William the Bastard was made to appear a hero by William of Poitiers, Wace was under an obligation to Henry II and was unlikely to show his patron's ancestor in a poor light and the losing side rarely get to write the history. Even the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle survives in alternate versions of differing bias.

See also: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; Bayeux Tapestry; Eadmer; Wace of Jersey; William the Bastard; William of Malmesbury; William of Poitiers

Related Reading:

• Hastings 1066 (Revised Edition)- The Fall of Saxon England
  (Campaign 13 )