King And Conqueror Is Not Just Bad History... It's Worse!

We've all come to expect that historical dramas and movies are going to be largely inaccurate. Then along comes the BBC/CBS drama 'King And Conqueor' and... Welcome to a lengthy rant about the demerits of this series and why, thanks to continual claims of accuracy from the series creators, it descends beyond bad history and into pseudo history.

Chapters
00:00 Beyond Bad History
00:54 A Totally Inaccurate Drama
06:24- Fwends Fowever?
10:35 European Geopolitics, Or The Lack Thereof
15:04 Descending Into Pseudohistory
17:10 The Consultants
21:00 Interesting Truths?
25:25 But They Were Friends!!!!
30:00 The Tool Of Tyrants
32:35 Coda- Norton Strikes Again

Sources And Further Reading
Barlow, Frank The Godwins: The Rise And Fall off A Noble Dynasty (2002),
Ibid The Norman Conquest And Beyond (1983)
Bartlett, Robert The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950-1350 (1993)
Blair, John, ‘The Anglo-Saxon Period’ in Morgan (ed) The Oxford History Of Britain (1988)
Chibnall, Marjorie The Debate On The Norman Conquest (1999)
O’Brien, Harriet Queen Emma And The Vikings: A History Of Power, Love And Greed In 11th Century England (2005)
Oppenheimer, Stephen The Origins Of The British (2007)
Rex, Peter Edward The Confessor (2013)
Ibid The English Resistance (2014)
Stenton, Frank Anglo Saxon England (1985 edn.)
Walker, Ian W Harold: The Last Anglo Saxon King (1997)

Articles:
Kelly, Helen ‘BBC King And Conqueror: Is James Norton Series Historically Accurate?’ MEN (and others) 24th Aug 2025
Mangan, Lucy- ‘King and Conqueror Review- James Norton And Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Fight The Battle Of Hastings’ Guardian 24th Aug, 2025
Morris, Lauren ‘King And Conqueror’s James Norton Addresses Fierce Backlash To BBC Drama Over One Issue’ Mirror 26th Aug 2025
Welsh, Danielle ‘King And Conqueror Stars Have Their Say Over 1 Major Criticism Of The Show’ HuffPost 28th Aug, 2025

#History #television