10. 1066 and the Last Vikings
5/11/202658 min
A Varangian warrior, Harald Hardrada, lays claim to the throne of England. In Normandy, Duke William sets out his case for seizing the disputed crown. It will spell disaster for Harold Godwinson, the sitting ruler of the Anglo-Saxon realm. The year 1066 will usher in the ultimate Norse showdown, bringing down the curtain on the Viking Age…
A Noiser podcast production. Narrated by Iain Glen.
Featuring Eleanor Barraclough, Stefan Brink, Lars Brownworth, William Fitzhugh, Levi Roach, Elizabeth Rowe, Pragya Vohra, Davide Zori.
Written & produced by Jeff Dawson | Executive Producer: Joel Duddell | Research by Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow | Fact check by Grant Jones | Sound Supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Jacob Booth | Additional editing by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cian Ryan-Morgan | Recording Engineer: Tom Rouse at Jungle Studios.
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First 90 secondsIain Glen0:00
[flies buzzing] It's summer 1038. We're in Sicily beneath the city walls of Syracuse. Amid the stifling heat and incessant flies, a band of warriors sneaks up, climbing round the rocks and scrub, swords and shields at the ready. [footsteps] They are members of an elite fighting unit, the Varangian Guard, the finest shock troops in the known world, personal hit squad of the Byzantine Emperor Michael IV. And they are poised to storm the citadel of Sicily's Muslim emir, dislodging the unsuspecting Saracens from their stronghold in the middle of the Mediterranean. Command of the Varangians goes to an immense figure, not just by reputation, but in literal stature, some say seven feet tall. [shouting] Hailing from far away Norway, he is the great-great-grandson of the legendary Viking king Harald Fairhair. Not that his men know it, for this soldier has never revealed his true identity. To them, he is Harald Sigurdsson, though history will record him by his nickname, Harald Hardrada. [cheering] [sword slicing] The presence of Norsemen in the Mediterranean is not a recent development, as we know from previous episodes, but neither the pagan Vikings