1066 and All That
Civitas, 19 August 2010
The BBC series The Normans, presented by Professor Robert Bartlett, concluded last night and has shown the licence payer just how well History programmes can be made. Not only was it well-rounded on facts, interesting asides and minimal judgements; it also displayed great insight into themes such as multiculturalism and colonialism, both still hot topics to this day and fascinating to explore as a result.
Without turning this article into a TV review, it is important to stress the effectiveness of mainstream historical programmes. The genre is still perhaps most memorable for offerings such as Simon Schama’s A History of Britain or David Starkey’s Monarchy, with these epics spanning history from the ‘olden olden’ days until now. What is most striking is how these popularly well-known programmes almost always revolve around England, Britain or the UK’s place in the world.
Many claim to have ‘done’ the Normans, studying it at school or having read and heard about 1066. Professor Robert Bartlett’s three episode series of course had to describe the conquest as well, but this was a twenty minute segment of a three hour documentary. (I would hesitatingly suggest this was the least interesting segment of the series.) The strength of the series was in its taking the viewer out of their historical comfort zone by exploring the build-up to and aftermath of the Battle of Hastings, along with detailing how the Normans spread over the Mediterranean world.
The programmes were fascinating as an insight into the Norman treatment of quasi-colonial subjects, which was perhaps harshest in England. However, in Sicily and beyond, the Norman’s multicultural acceptance of ethnically and religiously diverse subjects did, as Bartlett says, give a ‘blueprint’ of a harmonious but diverse society. Muslims, Orthodox and Western Christians lived side-by-side with religious freedom and without the routine persecution found in other contemporary societies. Perhaps we still have something to learn from them.
These dual themes of expansion and acceptance were the real backbone of the BBC series, giving a coherence and depth that sweeping history programs often lack in their attempt to race through the subject. Decolonialism is still rippling worldwide and our own society is not the first to experience the simultaneous pleasures and pains of multiculturalism. Programmes like The Normans that explore topics so close to the themes of our contemporary lives are often the most engaging. They clearly present the relevance of history to us today and justify the airtime given to examining our past.
The importance of television history does not lie in being an explosion of facts and dates to aim at the viewer, but in offering something the viewer can engage with by delving into the human condition. This is what really widens understanding of our past. For example, through the Normans, Bartlett has conveyed that the popular use of the word ‘medieval’ as a byword for ‘primitive’ is wrong. Critics may argue that this style of programme is the stuff of BBC4, but History oversteps narrow definitions of ‘high’ and ‘low’ brow: it is universal in its appeal and relevance.
The Normans has given a good model of how to produce great TV history, combining fact with actual experience through the opinion of contemporary chroniclers. For example, the conditions suffered by those on crusade were bad, but the real experience can only be recreated through first-hand descriptions of tortuous treks to find water. Bartlett’s use of backdrops was similarly effective and his attention to detail, along with relevant voiceovers and music, gave a clear display of the power of television as a medium for historical education. Sure, Bartlett walked and talked like all narrators, but unlike other historians – some now thought of more as TV personalities than academics- the star of the show was always the subject, not the presenter.
One critic described the series as ‘no more than a tarted up Open University lecture’ but if this is what university lectures were really like, you could bet the Bayeux Tapestry that many more students would attend them.