Tapestry Tales

Alex Conradie

I've always been rather fascinated by

chaos. How the beating of a butterfly's
wings can spark a storm half a world
away; how seemingly insignificant
events can tip the scales and
dramatically change the landscape. In
1066, after his success against the Viking
threat in the North, King Harold of
England hastily returned South to face
William of Normandy. Urgency or
overconfidence prevented him bolstering
his forces or reinforcing his non-
mounted warriors with archers. Forced
march may have imperceptibly
weakened his hardened warriors & critical mass may have been subtly lost in his most
experienced & disciplined units during the Viking campaign.

In October, William of Normandy

probably surprised him near Hastings,
though Harold managed to claim the
high ground. Harold expertly employed
a defensive tactic aimed at weakening
the attacking force with minimal losses,
but to no avail. That day, after several
hours of fighting, twelve thousand
warriors decided the ill fate of 1-2
million Saxons; perhaps more
significantly the fate of Saxon culture.
Anje & I walked across this waterlogged
field of battle, considering a landscape
largely unchanged by nine centuries. So
much blood.

The Norman challenge to Saxon culture was

much as the Saxon challenge to the Celtic
culture five centuries earlier. The Normans
brought their rule & customs. French became
the language of law, estates, song, verse,
chanson & romance. The Normans brought
feudalism with its fragmented authority and
unfortunate caste system. Most of all, the
Saxons resented being an oppressed majority.
Understandably, the fractal beauty of
feudalism remained unrecognised during
the High Middle Ages. Nevertheless, after
the fall of Rome, the High Middle Ages
was the break of day. Europe's great
fortune lay in the weakness and division
that accompanied an uncertain & poorly
understood world. Constant competition
between its component parts propelled
Europe forward, spurring innovation. Had
Rome persevered, Europe would have
stagnated as a pre-industrial society.

Reminders of Saxon culture are rare, though

an architectural heritage lies scattered upon
the British landscape. Most significant of all
is the Dark Age Saxon poem, Beowulf. In the
epic poem, the monster Grendel is the clear
antagonist, the walker of the boundary land.
He lurks unseen in the shadows of the bog
outside the warmth of the mead hall,
launching sudden vicious attacks on the hall's
certainty.

Like the reasons for King Harold's demise,

modern-day Grendels are more subtle. A
monoculture lacks diversity, stifling to
innovative thinking. If everyone has the
same thought process, similar solutions
will always be found. Post-war Europe in
the 20th century had a unique opportunity
to become a mosaic of diverse, loosely
federated states aligned along shared
economic goals. Unlearning the lessons of
the past, the 21st century European Union
continually seeks greater centralisation in
Brussels. The looming single Constitution
for Europe must surely be a potential threat
to diversity & innovation.

"It is like a nail," the chairman of Stalin's League of the Militant Godless, Yemelian Yaroslavsky,
once complained of Christianity, "the harder it is struck, the deeper it goes." Pray that the many
European peoples & cultures will respond in kind.