saxons and normans

gcse history

Edward becomes king

1042

william defeats cousin's army, takes normandy

1047

Tostig made Earl of Northumbria

1055

Tostig ousted by locals + harold- replaced with morcar

Nov 1065

Edward dies

5th January 1066

Edward's funeral, Harold coronated

6th January 1066

Battle of Fulford date

20th September 1066

Battle of Stamford Bridge date

25th September 1066

Battle of Hastings date

14th October 1066

William crowned

25th December 1066

Harold Godwinson

• only related to edward by marriage (edward married Harold's sister Edith)
  -Edward "granted" Harold throne in Chronicles and Bayeux Tapestry
• accepted by witan (rich, strong army, popular, religious as founded waltham abbey, english)

william of normandy

• edward allegedly promised him throne in 1051
• 1064, harold allegedly swore on holy relics to help william become king ("god is on my side", popes support at hastings)
  -french, so not accepted by witan.
  -defeated cousins army to get normandy 1047 so good warrior
  -distant blood relation of edward

Harald Hardrada

• king of Norway

wants to reinstate the viking claim to throne

-supported by Harold's brother (Tostig)
-promised throne by previous viking kings
-not approved by witan as hes from norway and brutal as hes a viking

edgar aethling

-Edward the Confessor's great nephew.
-aethling means throneworthy (fit to be king at one point?)
-no military experience, leadership skills, earls backed harold

battle of gate fulford

• viking attack from norway, hardrada v edwin and morcar
• harald comes over with 300 ships and 10,000 men, lands on east coast and sails to york, edwin and morcar fight with 4500 men
  -marshy area so each army was on other side of a stream
  -looked like hardrada had small army, best fighters hidden, better weapons, threw english in marsh so they had bridge
  earls army wiped out, hardrada gets 150 hostages that hell get at stamford bridge

Battle of Stamford Bridge

• harold rushes north (300 km in 5 days)
  -hardrada + tostig celebrating at stamford bridge
  -vikings caught by surprise and attacked
  -only thing separated the armies was the river derwar and a small bridge
  -crazy viking stopping whole english army on bridge, killed 40 english soldiers, english went under bridge and stabbed him
  -harold won because he has housecarls (trained) and the fyrd (untrained) soldiers which together make a strong army, had nearly twice has many soldiers as vikings.

Battle of Hastings

-english on top of senlac hill with shield wall- harolds housecarls had battleaxes
-normans come up to fight, rumour spread that william was dead
-normans retreat and english follow
-normans double back and kill english (known as feigned retreat, norman tactic.)
william kept soldiers in line: archers, infantry, cavalry (he had 2000 cavalry soldiers)
harolds army exhausted from stamford bridge, less soldiers, inc. untrained fyrdsmen, generally better trained soldiers on norman side

problem 1 after hastings= lack of trusted men to govern england

solution= rewarded his men with land of english nobles who died at hastings

problem 2 after hastings= threat of rebellion

solution= promised to rule within edwards laws, retained archbishops, thegns can buy back land if no fought hastings

problem 3 after hastings= threat of invasion

solution= built castles and laid waste to many places around london (couldve dissuaded danes from invading)

submission of the earls date

1066

submission of the earls

• edwin, morcar, stigand, edgar gather in lodon to resist william
  -william first attacked romney
  -then moves north to wallingford, attacks and builds a castle
  -then berkhamsted, building another castle and laying waste as he goes
  -edwin, morcar stigand afraid so submitted to william (accepted him as king)

Parts of a Motte and Bailey castles

-strong fence= driven deep into the ground to make it hard to get over or dig under to invade
-drawbridge= drawn up if enemy appeared
-bailey= enclosure of land where stables and barracks were placed as a spot for towns men to stay in the midst of an attack
-ditch/moat= surrounds castle, sometimes filled with water
-motte= hill 5-7 metres high behind the bailey (height advantage)
-keep= lookout and last place of defence if an attack got serious

• wooden bridge= smashed if needed to retreat to motte

Advantages of Motte and Bailey castles

-quick to build (9 days)
-cheap (only needed wood and earth)

• hard to attack (steep motte and ditch around bailey)

disadvantages of motte and bailey castles

-very flammable
-wood rots easily
-could remove food supply

Revolt of Edwin and Morcar date

1068

Revolt of Edwin and Morcar

-edwin angry as william promised him one of his daughters in marriage (status)
-william hadnt kept promise yet, edwin distrusts william
-morcar replaced as earl of northumbria (couldnt rely on him for invasion defence?)
-william swiftly took army north to mercia + northumbria, built castles at warwick, nottingham and york
-countryside destroyed by harrying (punishment)
-rebels surrendered without a fight, william wins

Edgar Aethling, rebellions in the North date

1069

Edgar Aethling and the rebellions in the North

-norman army sent to control durham attacked by locals. normans slaughtered in streets.
-york attacked twice, norman soldiers slaughtered
-edgar arrived to england from scotland to lead rebellion
-king swein of denmark came to coast w 240 ships
-king malcolm of scotland threatened (NOT DID) to invade north of england
-william marches north, lays waste to York and builds second castle there, heads south to spend easter at winchester

Hereward the Wake date

1070

Hereward the Wake

-hereward (exiled english rebel) returns to england secretly
-family land taken over by normans, his bros head above door
-hereward kills a group of normans
-laid seige on monastery on island of ely w morcar and danes
-william builds mile long bridge to try to get to hereward
-bridge collapsed when normans try to storm through
-william gets old witch, puts her on tower to terrorise locals
-she cursed english, threatened defeat, flashed her butt, hereward burns tower
-norman army bribes monks to take them on secret route
-hereward defeated, edwin killed, morcar imprisoned

harrying of the north date

1069-70

harrying of the north

-began in north yorkshire (cos of revolt of edwin + morcar)
-william pushes army across pennines in awful weather, close to mutiny
-destruction continued so did williams castle building. built castles at chester and stafford.

• harrying ended at welsh borders

what did they do in harrying of north

-burnt down homes
-ploughed salt into earth (couldnt grow anything for 9yrs)
-destroyed crops
-killed farm animals
-destroyed farm equipment
-killed resisting locals

consequences of harrying

-fear amongst english
-increased norman landownership in north
-confirmed norman control of north
-many deaths of rebel locals
-more castle building
-refugees fled (As far as midlands)
-greatly reduced further chance of rebellion

norman landownership

-1066= 5000 thegns, by 1085 almost all lost and worked for normans
-25% of land held by 10 real rich norman barons

how william maintained power after rebellions

-mutilation of rebels
-imprisonment of rebel leaders
-confiscating lands
-destruction of villages
-castle building

Revolt of the Earls date

1075

Revolt of the Earls

planned at wedding. 3 earls:
-Ralph (earl of norfolk) and roger (earl of hereford) both annoyed they didnt get as much land as their dads
-waltheof (earl of northumbria) only gained half of northumbria
-waltheof snitched to lanfranc who sent 2 royal armies north to stop rebel armies combining
-danes (supposed to support) arrived and pillaged york after rebels were captured
-ralph escapes to brittany, roger imprisoned for rest of life
-waltheof imprisoned 1076 then hurriedly beheaded and body thrown in ditch.

Feudal System

king gives land in exchange for landowner's loyalty (latin for land)