The Pillars of the Earth (miniseries) for the series, and in the view of one reviewer "great liberties are taken with the actual history". For example, the birth of Henry II and the death of his grandfather Henry I timelines are shortened in episode 1, given that young Henry was born in March 1133, and the older Henry died in December 1135. Further, geographically, Henry II was living in Maine when Henry I fell ill in Normandy while hunting. Similarly in episode 4, both King Stephen and Robert of Gloucester are captured at the Battle of Lincoln. While it is accurate that Stephen was captured in
Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor Yaroslav, the pretender to the throne of the Kievan Rus'. A son of Kievan Grand Duke Vladimir the Great, he was vice-regent of the Principality of Novgorod at the time of his father's death in 1015. Yaroslav's eldest surviving brother, Sviatopolk I of Kiev, killed three of his other brothers and seized power in Kiev. Henry II's support of Yaroslav was in direct opposition to not only Sviatopolk but to Bolesław I as well. Years before, Bolesław I had married one of his daughters to Sviatopolk, making the new Kievan Grand Duke a son-in-law to the Polish Duke. Henry II