Episode 14 - William the Bad

Norman Centuries | A Norman History Podcast by Lars Brownworth

If Roger II had been the 'baptized Sultan', his son William forgot the water. Despised by his legendary father and never intended for the throne, William the Bad dedicated his life to the comforts of the palace, stirring only to lead his armies on the battlefield, the one area in which he excelled. Though he could at times be energetic and even brilliant as a general, his reign was stained by internal rebellions and the loss of international prestige. But however much his reputation was blackened by subsequent historians, William I was hardly the failure that he was made out to be. Join Lars Brownworth as he looks at the life of William the Bad, the Norman Kingdom's most maligned king.