Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest

The momentous events of 1066, the story of invasion, battle and conquest, are well known. But what of the women?

Harold II of England had been with Edith Swanneck for twenty years but in 1066, in order to strengthen his hold on the throne, he married Ealdgyth, sister of two earls. William of Normandy's Duchess, Matilda of Flanders, had supposedly only agreed to marry the Duke after he'd pulled her pigtails and thrown her in the mud. Harald Hardrada had two wives - apparently at the same time...