First let me say that this is a good documentary with accurate costumes and settings.
The film leaves one believing that the Vikings simply retreated from Alfred "The Great" because of his defense mechanisms and no longer played a role in this part of history. While the raids on southern England did abate, Vikings continued to plunder northern Britain and northwest France.
Left out of the documentary was the assimilation of the Vikings into Normandy with the Rollo and Charles "The Simple" agreement. In exchange for peace, the northwest portion of France was given to the Vikings with the condition that they also convert to Christianity. The six Dukes of Normandy were not even mentioned although they played a crucial role during this time period.
This Viking settlement in northwest France ultimately led to the Battle of Hastings with William "The Conqueror" (a Viking descendant) defeating King Harold Godwinson to become the ruler of England. It is worth mentioning that immediately before the Battle of Hastings that Harold was fighting Viking marauders in northern England and his troops were probably somewhat battle worn and the battle may have had an entirely different outcome had this not been the case. I have wondered if it was possible that William may have planned the northern attack with his northern brethren to wear Harold down before the Battle of Hastings took place.
All of this information was omitted with the documentary jumping from Alfred "The Great" directly to the Crusades, leaving out a lot of extremely relevant history that helped bring about the Crusades and the knowledge to end the Dark Ages.
The film leaves one believing that the Vikings simply retreated from Alfred "The Great" because of his defense mechanisms and no longer played a role in this part of history. While the raids on southern England did abate, Vikings continued to plunder northern Britain and northwest France.
Left out of the documentary was the assimilation of the Vikings into Normandy with the Rollo and Charles "The Simple" agreement. In exchange for peace, the northwest portion of France was given to the Vikings with the condition that they also convert to Christianity. The six Dukes of Normandy were not even mentioned although they played a crucial role during this time period.
This Viking settlement in northwest France ultimately led to the Battle of Hastings with William "The Conqueror" (a Viking descendant) defeating King Harold Godwinson to become the ruler of England. It is worth mentioning that immediately before the Battle of Hastings that Harold was fighting Viking marauders in northern England and his troops were probably somewhat battle worn and the battle may have had an entirely different outcome had this not been the case. I have wondered if it was possible that William may have planned the northern attack with his northern brethren to wear Harold down before the Battle of Hastings took place.
All of this information was omitted with the documentary jumping from Alfred "The Great" directly to the Crusades, leaving out a lot of extremely relevant history that helped bring about the Crusades and the knowledge to end the Dark Ages.