William the Conqueror - A Cursed Dynasty?
Gale Pettifer
- Region:
- South East
- Notice Period:
- Short (maybe less than one month's notice)
- Type:
- History, Professional, Rotary, NADFAS, WI, U3A, Probus, etc
- Fee:
- Paid
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 12th January 2025
- Tagged:
- William The Conqueror | New Forest | History | Royalty
No other English monarch has had the impact on the realm as William the Conqueror. The England he forged was created through a reinterpretation of the landscape, the law, and the tiers of officials who administered it.
No other landscape has encapsulated this revolutionary change more than the New Forest, in southern England. Designated as a hunting preserve by William, this exquisite terrain of vast heathland, pasture woodland, and valley mires was to violently claim the lives of two of his sons and a grandson.
This presentation discusses the events that caused medieval commentators to see these deaths as a divine judgement on William as a man and as a king. Was this even evidence perhaps of a cursed dynasty?
Format: Illustrated talk with slides. Length: approximately 45 mins + Q&A
Views: 419 | Enquiries: 0About Gale Pettifer
Gale Pettifer is a writer and history lecturer, with an interest in political and environmental history. She is a practicing New Forest commoner with the ancient Right of Pasturage, meaning she can depasture cattle, ponies and donkeys onto the unenclosed New Forest, in southern England. Her speaking credits include the Chalke Valley History Festival; the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP), Exeter; the Royal Southern Yacht Club; and The Spring Arts & Heritage Centre, Havant.
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