St Peter’s Prep of Cheltenham hosts this series of talks in which former pupils and staff discuss their careers and experiences from different periods within its history.

Three years had passed since William the Conqueror had been crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066; yet York was far from joyful. Contemporary chronicles record violent military campaigns, massive destruction, looting, burning and widespread famine caused by looters; some modern scholars even compare it to genocide.

William had to act swiftly to subdue the northern shires, where Godwine and Edmund, sons of Saxon King Harold, were making one last attempt at seizing control of their father’s throne. For this battle to succeed, William needed an innovative plan.

He employed scorched earth tactics instead of engaging directly in battle with rebel forces and attempted to starve them out through destruction campaigns known as the ‘Harrying of the North”. Historians estimate this campaign was responsible for up to 75% of deaths across Yorkshire and other northern parts of England during this time.

But the ‘Harrying of the North’ was only part of Normans’ wider plan to subjugate England; also crucial was their systematic exploitation of its people – something 1069 Boys explores through historian Nick Arnold who, using historical and scientific evidence, has identified an encounter that marked Godwine and Edmund’s last major effort at regaining power after their father was defeated at Hastings in 1066.