DD - Episode 41 - Mortlake

This week, we head to Mortlake in Surrey, a manor so rich in assets it even held properties in London and Southwark.

Once the domain of Archbishop Stigand and later seized by Lanfranc, Mortlake offers a window into the tangled relationship between church and state after the Norman Conquest. We look at the political rivalry between these two ecclesiastical giants, the Church's role in government, and how rural manors ended up controlling urban real estate.

Along the way, we unpack strange terms like "messuage," revisit the question of Harold’s legitimacy, and explore what happens when religion and political power become too closely entwined.

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This episode brought to you by Hermelinda Emelisse Theedom.