(New) History. Part 2 - The Fall of the Anglo-Saxons. England’s fate turns on the wind and the sea. (Transcript added).

Feel free to email me your thoughts.In this episode, our journey through the Viking Age continues, drawing us ever closer to the dramatic events of the Norman invasion in 1066.The artwork: Pietro Perugino painted Mary at the Cross around 1482. The work is now in the National Gallery in Washington, DC. This scene forms the central panel of “The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John, Saint Jerome, and Saint Mary Magdalene.”But before we begin the next chapter, let us turn briefly to a hymn that has endured for centuries.The music you’ll hear is Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, performed by Emma Kirkby and James Bowman.The Stabat Mater is a Latin poem, long set to music. Pergolesi’s version, written in 1736 for a Neapolitan brotherhood, soon became his most famous sacred work, so powerful that it even inspired Johann Sebastian Bach to create his own adaptation.Its opening words, “Stabat Mater dolorosa”, mean, “The sorrowful mother was standing”. They capture a moment of grief, stillness, and deep reflection. Though its author remains uncertain, its influence is unmistakable, echoing through medieval churches and continuing to resonate today as a meditation on suffering, faith, and devotion.The music plays for the first 90 seconds, then continues for another 35 seconds after the episode ends.