Norman conquest: fall of Anglo-Saxon Kingdom

Consolidation of power in Anglo-Saxon kingdom

• Kingdom of Wessex screw very powerful over the final centuries of Anglo-Saxon rule in the British Isles

• Danish Viking, invasions and settlements spent large sections of northeastern. Britain were danish territories.

King Edward, the confessor

• King with no heir

• Surrounded by powerful Warlord Earls, including Wessex

• Wessex: powerful Godwin clan

• King Edward married the daughter of Earl Godwine

• Without an air, the competition for throne was intense

• King Edward believed to have chosen his cousin Duke, William of Normandy as his heir to assert power over the Godwinnes

Edward’s death

• Edward dies January 5 1066

• Harald is head of The Godwin’s clan

• On his deathbed, Edward gave his blessings to Harold as heir

• Harold is crowned January 6 but has enemies, including Duke, William of Normandy

Attack on the kingdom

• July 1066 Duke Williams forces assembled 14,000 men 3000 horses on the Norman side of the channel

• September 1066, King of Norway attacks Yorkshire, ends In English victory

• September 28 1066 Williams forces arrive at Pevensey Bay

• October 14 battle of Hastings: King Harold is killed with his remaining brothers and the best of his Anglo-Saxon Warriors

Evidence of the conquest

• Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

• Bayeux tapestry (Norman pov)

• William and his queen’s signatures on the Norman charters (signed with a cross as it’s likely neither of them could write)

Reconstruction of Chichester; Motte and Bailey

• Motte-and-Bailey castles were quickly built by the Normans after 1066 to secure control over England, combining a raised fort (motte) and a fortified courtyard (bailey).

• They served as military bases, administrative centers, and symbols of Norman power, often built in strategic locations like towns or crossroads.

• Chichester’s layout with multiple baileys and ditches shows careful planning and strong defenses, typical of early Norman castle-building.

Norman stone keep: Cardiff

• Cardiff Castle began as a Norman motte-and-bailey, built to control South Wales after 1066.

• The stone keep shows the transition from early wooden castles to stronger, permanent fortifications.

• It became a lasting symbol of Norman and later aristocratic power, rebuilt over centuries