Villains and Virgins History Podcast
Nov 2, 2026 · 1 hr 20 min · 11 segments
William Marshal, was one of the most famous medieval knights of all time. As a young knight he put his body on the line to save Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine from kidnapping. His battle skills were…
In 1066, a guy called William the Conqueror led an army of Normans from Normandy, in what is now France, across the English Channel into England and invaded.
And when they arrive in England, they're very different from the native population.
And so when William the Conqueror and his boys take control of England, now the court is a Norman, French-speaking court.
There's a new set of nobles, there's a new set of men who are in charge of the state and how it's going to run.
So there's already been this absolutely shocking shift in English politics quite recently.
So William the Conqueror eventually dies, his son takes over, and when this king is about to die, he leaves the throne to his daughter, because he has no surviving sons.
So she's the granddaughter of William the Conqueror, and the Normans have only been in England a couple of generations.
Because Matilda's cousin, a guy called Stephen, rushes in and seizes the throne of England for himself.
And this leaves Matilda in a position where she's going to have to fight her cousin to stake her own claim to the throne, which was hers by right of inheritance.
This makes things very difficult for all the nobles in England at the time, because they now have to take sides.
They have to decide who are they going to support? Are they going to be loyal to Stephen, who's currently wearing the crown and occupying the throne? Or are they going to side with Matilda, the daughter of their former king? And many of these nobles shift their loyalty over time as this very difficult struggle, this period called the Anarchy, takes over in England and lasts about 15 years.
The hero of our story, William, is born around 1146 or 1147 to a knight called John the Marshal.
And John initially supported Stephen and then switched his loyalty to supporting Matilda.
William is going to be a son of his father's second marriage, a marriage that was entirely enabled by this anarchic period where loyalties are shifting around.
In 1066, a guy called William the Conqueror led an army of Normans from Normandy, in what is now France, across the English Channel into England and invaded.
And when they arrive in England, they're very different from the native population.
And so when William the Conqueror and his boys take control of England, now the court is a Norman, French-speaking court.
There's a new set of nobles, there's a new set of men who are in charge of the state and how it's going to run.
So there's already been this absolutely shocking shift in English politics quite recently.
So William the Conqueror eventually dies, his son takes over, and when this king is about to die, he leaves the throne to his daughter, because he has no surviving sons.
So she's the granddaughter of William the Conqueror, and the Normans have only been in England a couple of generations.
Because Matilda's cousin, a guy called Stephen, rushes in and seizes the throne of England for himself.
And this leaves Matilda in a position where she's going to have to fight her cousin to stake her own claim to the throne, which was hers by right of inheritance.
This makes things very difficult for all the nobles in England at the time, because they now have to take sides.
They have to decide who are they going to support? Are they going to be loyal to Stephen, who's currently wearing the crown and occupying the throne? Or are they going to side with Matilda, the daughter of their former king? And many of these nobles shift their loyalty over time as this very difficult struggle, this period called the Anarchy, takes over in England and lasts about 15 years.
The hero of our story, William, is born around 1146 or 1147 to a knight called John the Marshal.
And John initially supported Stephen and then switched his loyalty to supporting Matilda.
William is going to be a son of his father's second marriage, a marriage that was entirely enabled by this anarchic period where loyalties are shifting around.
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