In February a new visitor center is scheduled to open in the East Sussex region of England, south of London. It is dedicated to the Battle of Hastings, the 1066 triumph of Norman William the Conquer over Saxon King Harold. Its $5.2 million purpose is to, according to a newspaper article I read about it, "...give Britons a greater sense of who they are by providing a glimpse of what might have been had the Saxons beat the Normans". Nick Barratt, project historian, declared that if things had gone the other way us English speakers would be speaking something else and the government systems would bear little resemblance to how they developed under the Norman influences. That may or may not be a good thing, but if William had lost who knows what language you would be reading this in.

Since ancient times kings had numerous ways of communicating with each other, and because they didn't have any uniform language amongst them things were usually open to interpretation. Some used different knots in a line of string (Marquesas), totems, signs or symbols. Take this episode with King Darius I of Persia for instance. During his rookie years Darius, who had a lot of enemies left over from his father Cyrus' expansion efforts, and wasn't always sure who was friend or foe, received gifts from the Scythians- a frog, a mouse, a bird and some arrows. Well, this looked like homage to him, but his more discerning father-in-law brought him up straight. What they really meant was unless he could hide in the water like a frog, bury himself in the ground like the mouse or fly away like the bird they were going to shoot him full of arrows.

All unknown to each other's existence ancient civilizations in all parts of the world began developing alphabets and uniform symbols that only those like kings, their subordinates and their scribes understood. The invention of parchment, made from the skins of sheep, goats or cows, and available in the west (papyrus from Egypt was getting harder to come by), made it simple for numerous copies of original documents to be produced, and for more people to learn to read and write. By the time the great library at Alexandria was destroyed, taking the masters of the scrolls to the bottom, many copies had been made and all was not lost.

What's all this got to do with our William? Well, fast-forward to Britain after the Romans debunked. In the 5th Century, down in Italy, a new church was forming. It would take classical heritage and move it up north. It was essentially monastic, pontifical and missionary. The first monasteries saw themselves as armies of God, dedicated to prayer and severe self-denial. The brothers dedicated their day to singing psalms and individual reading, after which they had to meditate so the meaning could sink in. The monasteries then started to take on the task of not only reading scripture but copying it. When the Celts were chased out of England by German invaders they took ship for Ireland. Left to their own devices the Irish church divided up into monasteries where Latin flourished. They also studied grammar and rhetoric, but were especially good at figuring out the Holy Days, etc. This highly elaborate writing needed equally grand illustrations and the arts of illuminating and gold-smithing were perfected as decorations for their writings.

Of course this was all in the cause of converting the barbarian locals: Angles, Jutes and Saxons. In 596 A.D. a small group of monks settled in Kent, sent by Pope Gregory. The Irish Houses sent over their own missionaries and soon all the British Isles were Christian- just divided between Rome and Ireland. In 663 Rome united both factions and this meant that Latin was the language in use. Schools flourished in the monasteries. These produced scholars and historians like the Venerable Bede, who had entered the House of Jarrow in 685, age 13, learning from masters who taught him grammar, ecclesiastical reckoning (holy dates), and astrology.

The monasteries in Briton and Europe, with the same purpose and the same written and oral language, began networking. The Irish church welcomed books and students from other lands. Pope Gregory sent scholars Theodore of Tarsus and Adrian from Africa to England with liturgies, trappings, ornaments and books. A vassal of the King of Northumbria, one Benedict Biscop, made five trips to Rome and brought back loads of manuscripts. The Anglo-Saxons and the Holy church established close ties and there was much voyaging between them.

Down in northern France between the 8th and 11th centuries, a feudal society was coming into its own. Those who were vassals followed a strict method of declaring their loyalty-with symbols and words. The vassal placed his joined hands between those of his lord; the lord and the vassal then gave each other a big sloppy kiss (swapping saliva exchanged a vital force between them), swore an oath on the Bible and then on holy relics. When the lord gave a vassal his own fiefdom he presented him with a tree branch or piece of turf, symbolizing a landholding; then a rod to grant power and a knife or sword giving him the right to get violent if he had to. This system took real hold in the regions of France. In order to keep track of the money and the laws they needed a system to oversee how this would all be administered.

The Saxon kings operated under their own original culture, using the official Anglo-Saxon language to set down epic poetry and great clerical texts. Only about 2,000 of these pieces were found after William took over, so did he have them all destroyed?

After he took over William, who had no such thing in Normandy, decided he needed a census taken of every person and animal he now possessed. Those who supported the new monarchy spread the tradition, stemming from the production of his titled Domesday Book, that the Normans had introduced writing to the land.

Writing paid no small part in helping William establish his new order. The changes that had to be made, particularly the one where French (competing with Latin) had to be established as the language of life, took a century. The new monarchy used reams of letters, missives and briefs to do it. Millions of land grants to peasants and acts of sale were produced in the 13th century. Not everybody though knelt to the rule of the written word. Take one old Count who, when asked to prove his rights, hauled out a very ancient rusty sword once wielded by an ancestor at the Battle of Hastings.

Lyric poetry turned to song became another highly stylized means of communication imported from France. There have been about 450 identified troubadours, one of which was Eleanor of Aquitaine's grandfather. Some were high lords, some clerics, some poor knights, and some (like a baker rumored to be a lover of aforementioned Eleanor) of humble background. Based on the works of Ovid such songs were meant to be performed for young vassals or landless nobles come to the local fortress to complete his military education. The cult of the Lady sprang up, with strict rules of Courtly Love to be followed. As long as the feudal system was in power across northern Europe troubadours flourished. In turn a new chivalric epic poem form came into vogue weaving long, connected episodes together using a quest as a device. These became very popular in the court and as. Eleanor and her children loved this genre they were responsible for diffusing it throughout their lands. The Crusades had created a new interest in Byzantine and ancient Greek history. Celtic legends were also incorporated, but where they got wind of those is unknown as there is no record of them having been written down anywhere.

That being the case, just how did the legends of King Arthur get started? Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Welsh cleric, gathered up the little information he could find left by Bede and others and using his vivid imagination blew it all up into his own Historica regnum Britanniae. This work spread immediately throughout the Anglo-Norman and French courts. This fanciful work claimed to tell the tales of the lives of the kings of England from the first Brutus to the last Caedwalla, who died in 689. But it was an ancient Welsh chieftain named Arthur to whom Geoffrey gave credit for driving the Saxons out of England in the 6th century, as well as conquering a bit of the continent as well. Because these tales were written down, and not carried about only by oral tradition, they soon spread all through Europe to Italy. In Aquitaine Eleanor heard bards singing versions of the Arthurian legends, again integrating mysterious Celtic traditions.

In Germany their own singers strung together numerous old legends of their own, such as the one about the death of young Siegfried. In Norway this became a Christian story, based on pagan myth where Siegfried was a hero and Brunhilde, daughter of Odin, was transformed into the virginal queen of Iceland. By the time this epic had been gathered together and written down as the Nibelungen, the days of the oral tradition were about over, at least in the higher strata of the population that could read.

In 1215 the Magna Carta, or Great Charter of Freedoms, was plunked down before King John. Although not the first document to limit the rights of kings, it became the most influential common law document in history. It came about due to numerous disagreements between Pope Innocent II, the English barons and John. John was not exactly respecting the barons' rights either and they'd asked for the Church's assistance. The clauses were amended throughout the Middle Ages (but not paid too much attention to by John), by the Tudors and Stuarts and up to the 19th century, by which time most of the clauses had been repealed in English Law. It was not one document but a variety of them grouped under the one name.

The system of government set up by Plantagenet Henry II ran England pretty well during King Richard's crusading absences. But John was always starting and losing wars and needed money to bolster his army. Mercenary costs were skyrocketing. He had lost Normandy and his state income was way down. Taxes would have to be raised and hugely so he could afford to get them back. There was the Forest Law, which, when broken, led to heavy fines. He imposed the first income taxes. He increased the overlords' feudal payments or scutage 11 times in 17 years. This all brought in the massive sum of 60,000

Some of the barons got together and rebelled, taking London in 1215. They forced the Magna Carta on John. One clause effectively took all his powers away, and he had no intention of abiding by it. It gave a committee of 25 barons the authority to over-rule the king's decisions by the ancient method of capturing his castles and possessions if needed. This was commonly done against other barons but never before to a king. And then the king had to take a loyalty oath to the Committee! This would make him the king in name only. The Pope also shot it down, declaring it violated the Church's powers over the kings as well, and released John from the oath. Civil war ensured but. John died during it in 1216.

The boy king Henry III was hurriedly crowned, hoping that the barons would be more loyal to him. It worked and the war was over. Henry's regents reissued Magna Carta in 1217, leaving out certain clauses, especially that one. In 1225, when Henry turned 18, he reissued a shorter version. He reigned 56 years and by the time of his death in 1272 Magna Carta was a settled part of English law, and therefore pretty near impossible for future monarchs to attempt to annul. This version was reaffirmed by his heir Edward I in 1297. Copied nearly word for word in Latin from Henry I's Charter of Liberties issued in 1100, it effectively granted certain civil liberties to the Church and English nobles.

During Elizabeth I's reign the government went all out to promote the parliamentary system outlined in the Charter as having its august roots in Roman government. The Tudors saw this as proof that parliamentary government had existed since forever and the Normans had simply provided a brief breakdown of liberty and democracy. Magna Carta soon became the irrefutable source. Because of the clause that stated that kings are not above the law, it was then right and proper to remove one who tried to be. Because of this the monarchy began it to see Magna Carta as dangerous to them. Parliament's powers were growing by the time of Charles I. Parliament was beginning to see Magna Carta as their best bet in declaring themselves supreme over the king and started a PR campaign declaring Parliament to be the defender of all rights and liberties to all. It was then the only body authorized to raise taxes. When they perceived that some people wanted to limit Parliament's powers, they declared they only had right of interpretation of the Charter-seeing itself above the law or any higher power. Looking for a way to overthrow the king and establish itself as the sovereign government, they used the Charter to overrule the king and start a rebellion against Charles. He lost. So it was written, and the rest is history.

So, if the Normans had lost, would there have been any Knights of the Round Table? Any Domesday Book, tales of Robin Hood, Magna Carta, Protestants, Shakespearean sonnets, parliamentary system, courtly love, King James Bible, division of church and state, Reformation, United States, or genesis of the English language as it has morphed into today? Would the Saxon language been as adaptable to assimilation as Norman French was? Should an actual descendent of Edgar the Aetheling be found in Australia, Norway, the US, Britain or Germany, would that queen or king now be delivering a Christmas message over the Palace website or downloaded to your ipod? We'll never know, but everything we do know about the history of the ancient Britons was preserved by the Norman winners- but like the internet, you can't always believe everything you read there either.

See ya on the www.

Anon, and all my best wishes for merriment in 2007 to everybody!