1066 is one of the most famous dates in English history, with the Norman Conquest highlighted in the Bayeux Tapestry (due in England for the first time in 2026). But how much do we really know about what is a far more complex story? This book represents a fresh approach to such issues as:? How Athelstan’s England slipped into the disasters of Aethelred and the Danish Conquest of 1016. ? How England and Normandy were linked long before and after Hastings. ? How Edward the Confessor contributed to the Norman Conquest, and what defeat really meant to the English. ? How the Norman inheritance led to Anarchy before Henry II expanded his territory through to the south of France. ? How Henry’s legacy was comprehensively lost by his sons, with England given to the pope and nearly taken over by the French. ? How, out of all this adversity, Magna Carta and an effective parliament emerged, proving England and its people remarkably resilient.