Cold Open

It’s January 28th, 1069, in the city of Durham in the north of England.

Robert de Comines ducks as an ax swings through the air at his head. Robert is the Earl of Northumbria and a man in his fighting prime. But even Robert can’t fight off an entire mob.

He thrusts his sword at the man with the ax who’s chasing him down the street. As the man loses his balance, Robert retreats. He and a handful of his soldiers are hopelessly outnumbered by a hostile crowd of locals, who are determined to kill them and send a message of defiance to their hated king, William the Conqueror.

Just over two years ago, Robert was part of William’s army that successfully invaded England from Normandy. And after William seized the English throne, he set about rewarding his followers. But the noble title that King William gave Robert was a double-edged sword. Robert was made Earl of Northumbria, a region of William’s kingdom that has been especially reluctant to accept its new Norman overlord. And today, the people of Durham have launched an uprising, Robert is their primary target.

Robert and his soldiers stay close as they retreat away from their attackers. But the mob is happy to hang back for now. Because they know this city better than the Normans. Robert is leading his men into a dead end.

But Robert suddenly recognizes the door next to him: It's the Bishop of Durham’s house. He turns and bangs on the door, hoping that someone inside will open up.

Bolts slide back and Robert screams at whoever is behind the door to hurry. Then, just as the rebel moves forward and swings his ax again, the door opens.

The ax buries itself in the wooden door and Robert takes the opportunity to thrust his sword into his attacker’s belly. Then, he gestures at his men to follow him inside the Bishop's house.

Robert slams the door behind them. And as he catches his breath, he prays that the rebels will now disperse—but he knows it’s a vain hope. He's sure that they won’t leave until he is dead.

The sanctuary of the bishop’s house won’t keep Robert de Comines safe for long. The rebels will soon set fire to the building, killing Robert, his followers, and the bishop’s servants sheltering inside. But when news of these deaths reaches William the Conqueror in London, it’ll snap the last of his patience. In what will become known as the Harrying of the North, William will unleash a campaign of genocidal destruction on his own subjects, the effects of which will be felt for centuries after the death of Robert de Comines, Earl of Northumbria, on January 28th, 1069.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is January 28th, 1069: The Harrying of the North.

Act One

It’s December 25th, 1066, at Westminster Abbey in London, England, two years before the death of Robert de Comines.

38-year-old Duke William of Normandy sits on a wooden throne in the middle of the abbey, staring at the dignitaries gathered in the vast church. There’s a rustle of robes as a figure moves behind him, but William remains perfectly still. This is the most significant moment in his life so far: his coronation as King of England.

Eleven months ago, the old English King, Edward the Confessor, died without an heir, leaving behind a dispute over who should succeed him. According to Duke William, King Edward had promised him the throne 15 years earlier. But when the time came, few English people wanted a man from the French province of Normandy as their king. Instead, they convinced England’s most powerful nobleman Harold Godwinson to accept the crown. But William was not happy that what he saw as his rightful inheritance had been usurped, and he invaded England to seize the throne. Two months ago, William won the Battle of Hastings, and King Harold was killed. Now, Duke William is about to become the third King of England in less than a year.

As the crown is lowered on William’s head, a cheer breaks out in the abbey. Duke William of Normandy is now King William of England. But the ceremony isn’t over yet. Now that the new king has been crowned, the assembled clergymen begin Mass to celebrate the coronation.

But during quiet moments in the service, William hears shouts from outside the abbey. One or two Norman nobles and knights leave the abbey to investigate and they return with white faces and gesture at others in the congregation to follow them back outside.

Eventually, William beckons over one of his followers to ask what's going on. The man whispers in William’s ear that royal guards stationed outside the abbey heard the cheering from inside and thought that William had been assassinated by disgruntled Englishmen. In response, the guards went on the rampage, setting fire to nearby buildings. Londoners are fighting back, and a full-scale riot has broken out.

William leans back in his chair and decides that despite the disorder in the streets outside, the church service and coronation must finish as planned. And by the time he leaves the abbey an hour or so later, order has been restored, but several people are dead and smoke lingers in the air while buildings smolder.

William mounts his horse and rides to the safety of a newly built wooden castle on the banks of the River Thames. It's there that the new king realizes, this outbreak of violence is a sign that his conquest of England is far from complete. Although he’s now King of England in name, William has control over only a sliver of his new realm. There are vast portions of land where the old English authorities are still in control, and whose inhabitants resent their new Norman masters. So, over the next few months, William’s armies spread out from London to establish Norman rule across the rest of the kingdom. The last region to fall is the most distant one: the North.

For two centuries, Northumbria has been a thorn in the side of English monarchs. Northern England was conquered by the Vikings in 866 CE, and the Scandinavian settlers who followed them, spent decades clashing with the people further south. Even now that the North is part of England, it remains a tense mix of cultures, united in only one thing—hatred for the Norman invaders.

William is aware that the north of his kingdom is a tinderbox, where rebellion could break out at any moment. So in an attempt to quell dissent, he offers an olive branch. In the rest of England, William has installed fellow Normans as governors and landowners. But he offers the position of Earl of Northumbria —the most powerful man in northern England—to an Englishman, but one who’s prepared to bend the knee to William.

William’s strategy doesn’t get off to the best start. His first choice for earl is murdered within five weeks. William replaces him with another Englishman, but he is also dead before the year is out. So, for the third time in a year, William names an Englishman to the vacant Earldom of Northumbria.

But this new earl’s rule will also come to an abrupt end—one that will force William to attempt a controversial new approach to subduing the north of England. No longer will he try to mollify the region with English-born rulers, but coerce them with French-made steel.

Act Two

It’s the summer of 1068, in York, England, eighteen months after King William I’s coronation.

William grips the reins of his horse as he and his guards gallop through the city. He pays no attention to the inhabitants of York who rush aside to avoid being trampled. Instead, William focuses on his destination, one that’s just a few hundred yards ahead: a castle that sits on top of a large man-made mound of earth.

A few weeks ago, William’s third choice as Earl of Northumbria, an Englishman named Gospatric, joined a rebellion against William’s rule. Now, with two Earls of Northumbria murdered and one turned rebel, William had had enough and marched north at the head of an army to deal with the troublesome region himself. Hearing of his approach, the leaders of the rebellion fled north to the neighboring kingdom of Scotland, and Gospatric was among them. Although peace was restored, William decided to ensure that the North stayed loyal to him by building a permanent base in this part of the kingdom. He selected York, the region’s most important city, as the site of a new castle. Soldiers pulled down hundreds of houses and buildings, evicting their inhabitants to make way for construction. And now, just two weeks later, William is here to inspect the newly built citadel.

When he’s safe behind the castle palisade, William dismounts and hands the reins of his horse to an attendant. He hustles through the keep to the great hall, which still smells of freshly cut timber. But William doesn't spend much time admiring the new construction, he's eager to get to work.

And over the next few days, he hears reports from the handful of knights and nobles in the north who’ve stayed loyal to him. They tell William that the rebels have sought sanctuary with the Scottish King and cannot be pursued across the border without provoking war with Scotland. So, for the moment, they are safe from William’s vengeance. But by fleeing the country, they have abandoned their homes in northern England.

And after this latest blow to his authority, William has no intention of pandering to the Northumbrians any longer. Over the next few days, he strips the departed rebels of their landholdings, taking their property for himself. Among those who are punished in this way is Gospatric, who’s also stripped of the title of Earl. But this time, William does not hand the title to another Englishman. And instead, his choice as the next Earl of Northumbria is someone he trusts completely: Robert de Comines, a nobleman who’s been with him since before the Battle of Hastings.

William orders Robert to subdue the entire north by force. And after William returns to London, Robert assembles an army of 700 men and marches them to Durham, a city 50 miles from the border with Scotland. But once there, Robert does not pay enough attention to the rumors that rebels are reassembling in the countryside around the city. When another uprising breaks out in the beginning of 1069, Robert is caught by surprise and his men are massacred. He initially escapes the bloodshed, but Robert is finally cornered in the Bishop of Durham’s house and dies when the rebels set fire to it.

King William is enraged by the death of his loyal ally and immediately marches back north with his army, but again the rebels slip away into the countryside and refuse to engage directly. But William won't let them get away a second time.

Over the next few months, William conducts a brutal campaign against the north of England. He orders his soldiers to treat every inhabitant of every town and village as an enemy, whether they’re sympathetic to the rebels or not. So, the Norman soldiers burn crops in the fields. They kill livestock, empty food stores, destroy tools, and tear down buildings. Anyone who tries to resist is slaughtered.

After the first few attacks, word gets around that the Normans show no mercy. Villagers flee when they hear that soldiers are coming. But even if people survive the initial attacks, the razing of their homes and crops means that they’re left defenseless against the elements and with little food to sustain them. So soon, the north of England begins to empty as refugees flock to Scotland and the English Midlands. Those unable to travel are forced to eat cats, dogs, horses, even the bodies of friends and family members to avoid starvation.

But William won’t shy away from the destruction and suffering he’s caused. Instead, he’ll order it to continue for months, and it’ll only end when the Harrying of the North has achieved what he demands—the complete subjugation of England to his royal command.

Act Three

It’s 1086 in Horsforth, a village in northern England, 17 years after William the Conqueror began the Harrying of the North.

A Norman official rides into the village, with two armed guards close behind him to guarantee his safety. Normans are not popular in these parts. But the official soon realizes that there’s no threat here. The buildings of Horsforth are derelict, and what few villagers he sees are pale and emaciated. So, the official clambers down from his horse and begins unpacking his bags. He has work to do.

In the two decades since his invasion of England, William the Conqueror has faced countless disputes over land ownership. In order to settle these arguments, William has come up with a bureaucratic solution. He’s ordered his officials to carry out a survey of every village and town in England. Nothing like it has ever been attempted before. William wants a comprehensive written record of who owns what land—and how much they owe to him in taxation. And now, one of his officials has arrived at his latest destination in a months-long journey around northern England.

Over the course of the next few hours, the official questions the people of Horsforth. He asks who owns what land, how much it’s worth, and what it was worth in 1066—the year William the Conqueror seized the English crown.

The villagers tell the official that the value of their land has substantially decreased over the last few years. It’s a familiar story, and the official knows what’s caused it. Even though the Harrying of the North was 17 years ago, King William’s soldiers laid such a path of destruction that the region still hasn’t recovered.

As the official rises to leave, he declares that the village of Horsforth is “waste,” a judgment that means the people of the village have so little property that they aren’t required to pay any taxes at all. The villagers smile resignedly. At least this verdict means they have one less burden to shoulder.

King William considered the Harrying of the North a necessary measure, but the consequences go far beyond the amount of tax that subsequent generations must pay. Up to three-quarters of the population of northern England were either killed or displaced by the king’s ruthless and violent campaign. And William’s brutality will ensure that the north of England remains far poorer than the south for centuries to come—a steep price for its people to pay for the death of William’s ally, Robert de Comines, on January 28th, 1069.

Outro

Next on History Daily. January 29th, 1959. The Walt Disney Company takes a 30-year break from animated princess movies after Sleeping Beauty bombs at the box office.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Gabriel Gould.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Scott Reeves.

Edited by Dorian Merina.

Managing producer, Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.