Anglo-Saxon and Norman England

AS - Powers of the king

• Made laws

• Had personal advisory council (The Witan)

• Granted land as a reward  and took away as punishment

• Could raise a fyrd and fleet

• Decided amount and timing of taxes

• Controlled minting and distribution of coins

AS - Local Government

• Earldoms made of shires, Shires made of hundreds, hundreds made of tithings, tithing made of 10 households/100 hides

• Each hide of land was 120 acres and for every five hides, one man was to be provided for the fyrd

• The king was represented at a local level by a Shire Reeve who: collected land revenue, collected taxes, collected fines, judged cases and witnessed laws being enforced, provided men for the fyrd, kept roads and defences well maintained

AS - Law and Order

• Collective responsibility: If one member of a tithing broke the law, the others were responsible for bringing them to court and faced punishment otherwise

• Hue and cry: Anyone could rally the community to hunt a criminal

• Trial by Ordeal: When courts could not decide, God was asked to judge cases by keeping people alive in dangerous scenarios

• Strengths - Depended on tight-knit community

• Weakness - Could not prevent Earls from breaking the law

AS - The Economy

• Good climate for farming, so most relied on it

• Strong trade links up north and down south due to easy water access

• Efficient tax system boosted income of the king and his nobles

• Role of Burhs: Fortified main town of each shire, Used to take refuge during Viking invasions, Where all significant trade legally had to be carried out, strong walls and ramparts made attacking difficult

AS - Social system and levels of control

• God: Appointed the king, giving absolute power

• King: Appointed by God, ruled over all of England with all resources at his command

• Thegns: Noble class with five hides of land or more

• Ceorls: Free farmers that depended on thegns for land and work, 90% of population

• Slaves: Treated as property so bought and sold, no freedom

AS - Edward the Confessor

• Religious leader

• Respected as a wise lawmaker

• Married to Edith, Daughter of Earl Godwin

• Exiled in Normandy until king so few English supporters

• No clear heir

• Struggled to control Earl Godwin

• 1003 - 1066

AS - House of Godwin

• Married politically: Edith to King Edward, Harold to Edith of Mercia, Tostig to Judith of Flanders

• Controlled all but one earldom

• Got Edward the local support he needed to stay in power

• Convinced Edward to appoint bishops loyal to them

• Lots of land means large army and earnings

AS - Uprising against Tostig

• Tostig increased taxes in Northumbria, Assassinated Northumbrian rivals, Failed to defend against Scottish attacks due to friendships with leader King Malcolm 3

• Thegns march on York

• Edward tries to squash but Harold gives into demands and replaces him with Morcar

SC1 - Claimants for the throne: Harold Godwinson

• Claimed to be appointed successor on his deathbed

• Supported by loyal witnesses

• Already had vast control over England so would be a great fit

SC1 - Claimants for the throne: Edgar Aethling

• Descended from King Alfred the Great so had blood relation

• Strong in theory but little to no backup

• Only 15 at the time, so had neither the power or the experience necessary

SC1 - Claimants for the throne: Harald Hardrada

• Claim was based around secret Viking deal

• Weak as deal had no witnesses but force alone could back it up

• Had 300 ships, 15K warriors, lots of battle experience and would be welcomed by the Danelaw

SC1 - Claimants for the throne: William of Normandy

• Claimed Harold promised him the throne during his embassy

• Backed by the Pope, but had no witnesses

• Good military strength, but faced issues getting knights across the channel

SC1 - Battles for the throne: Gate Fulford

• Morcar and Edwin gathered an army to face Hardrada and his 10k strong army

• Hardrada won but Edwin and Morcar managed to retreat

• This forced Harold to march up north to fight back

• 20th September

SC1 - Battles for the throne: Stamford Bridge

• Harold surprised Hardrada's tired and unprepared army

• Both Tostig and Hardrada were killed, and the remaining soldiers ran back to the ships

SC1 - Battles for the throne: Hastings

• Since Harold had called off his channel fleet and was fighting up north, William decided to cross the channel and attack Wessex to lure Harold

• The English were on top of the hill and the Normans at the bottom

• The English shield wall on the hill rendered the cavalry and archers useless

• Normans had papal banner, so believed God was on their side

• Norman foot soldier were trained mercenaries whereas English Fyrdsmen were farmers with pitchforks

• William used a feigned retreat tactic to break the shield wall and bring the English down the hill, winning them the battle

• 14th October

SC1 - Battles for the throne: Submission of the earls

• After Hastings, William marched to Dover and his men got dysentery

• William then attacked and destroyed homes and farms throughout the South-east

• He also captured Winchester, as control of the royal mint means the money could not be used by the English to raise an army against him

• He then marched to London via Berkhamsted

• The Earls, who had hastily appointed Edgar Aethling as king, quickly submitted to William as they had no access to proper resources or good warriors to fight back

GP - Usage of Castles

• William standardised the use of Motte and Bailey castles as a means of creating fear and keeping power

• Keep - Tall wooden tower, highest point of the castle, used to look out for possible rebels/invaders

• Ditch - Area surrounding the castle filled with water, providing protection

• Were placed in strategic locations to keep watch over as much of the country as possible

• Marcher earls had permission to build them as they pleased, meaning many more could be constructed

• Made presence in the area known, scaring off some rebels

• Could be built much quicker than burhs

GP - Changes in earldoms

• Earldoms were changed from four large ones, to 10 smaller ones in order to minimise military power of earls in case of a rebellion attempt

• Marcher Earldoms on the border to Wales were given special privileges (no taxes, more castles, sheriffs report to Earls)

• Earldoms were given to Norman that were loyal followers to William, so he could both build loyalty via rewards and keep areas under his control

• The marcher Earls were: Hugh 'Avranches, William Fitz Osbern, and Roger de Montgomery

GP - Cult of personality

• Put his face on all coins and royal writs

• Travelled the country wearing his crown

• Forced all to pledge allegiance to him

GP - Centralisation of power

• All troops owned loyalty to the king

• Everyone in feudalism was loyal to the king

• Gained revenue through wealth tax

• Controlled all church land

• Kept all land and merely lended land to Tenant-in-chiefs

GP - Resistances: Edwin and Morcar

• The two earls were mad at William for: reducing the size of their earldoms, breaking marriage promises, imposing heavy geld taxes and the allowing of local women to be violated

• William marched up north and once he took over Warwick, the earls and their men quickly submitted

• Edgar Aethling and other rebels fled to Scotland for protection

• The two earls were kept as guests in William's court, and the Earl of Northumbria was changed to Robert Cumin

• 1086

GP: Resistances - Anglo-Danish attack on York

• King Sweyn of Denmark had sent Edgar Aethling a large fleet and assaulted York, killing 3K Normans

• Northerners used Guerrilla tactics and as soon as one unrest had been stopped, another rose

• William eventually paid off the Danes and Harried the North to stop the rebels

• 1069

GP: Resistances - Hereward the Wake at Ely

• Returned to Ely having found his land stolen and brother killed (Pub story)

• Raided Peterborough Abbey with the Danes, but Danes took all of it

• Morcar escaped William's courts and helped him defend Ely but was defeated and re-captured

GP - Resistances: Harrying of the North

• Constant rebellions in the North and the death of his friend Robert Cumin meant William had to take action to stay in power

• Decimated the land from the Humber to the Tees

• Burned all crops, killed livestock, Poured salt into land so nothing could grow, destroyed homes to stop sheltering

• Led to 100K deaths, cannibalism, refugee crisis, and the region being marked as waste in the Domesday book

• Made northern rebellions impossible and Southern rebellions improbable

GP - Resistances: Revolt of the Earls

• Roger de Breteuil of Hereford, Ralph de Gael of East Anglia, Waltheof of Northumbria

• The size of their lands were reduced after their fathers' deaths, William removed Marcher Earldom self-governing,

• Ralph had gained the support of the Danes and William had left to Normandy

• Lanfranc was told of the revolt, and so had plenty of time to prepare inc excommunicating Roger

• Roger was imprisoned, Ralph escaped, Waltheof was executed

• The Danes arrived to a failed revolt so just stole some stuff and left

NE - Feudal Hierarchy

• King: Owned all land, Provided peace law and protection in exchange for taxes knight service

• Tenant-in-chief: Given control of land by king, Granted land to under-tenants in exchange for taxes and military service

• Under-tenant: Provided land for peasants to work on in exchange for land service

• Peasant: Provided Land service to under-tenants, Some were free but most were bound to one lord

• Slaves: Freed and practise abolished

NE - Key terms for society

• Barony: Lands held by a baron (type of tenant-in-chief)

• Fief: Land held by a vassal in return for service to lord (often military)

• Homage: Public display of allegiance to a lord

• Tenant-in-chief: Someone who held land 'given' directly by the king

• Vassal: Someone who held land from someone else

• Knight Service: The duty to provide a knight/s to the king for up to 40 days a year

NE - Lanfranc’s reforms

• Previous AOC Stigand: Bishop for more than one area (pluralist), Gave out jobs in return for money (Simony), Lack of control over other bishops, Wasn't ever a bishop before

• New AOC Lanfranc: Put in charge of entire church of England, Used re-organised church councils to power through reforms, banned marriage for priests, Clergy were now tried by special bishop courts, more monasteries and nunneries + they no longer interacted with ordinary people, king appointed bishops, Papal comms controlled

NE - Sheriffs

• Appointed by the king

• Responsible for stamping out rebellions and maintaining castles

• Took a share of revenue collect, prompted them to "squeeze" the locals

• Paid a set sum to manage land and kept any profit from it

• Involved in many land grabs

NE - The forest

• Land taken from holders to extend kingly hunting ground

• Locals evicted from the area

• Creation of forest laws meant intruding hunters or people damaging vegetation were punished

• Showed how William could be unfair and even brutal

• Selling hunting rights to other noble and fining intruders generated income

NE - The Domesday Book

• Survey collected covering 13400 place names and the 2 million people

• Financial - King could easily tell how much each landholder needed to pay

• Legal - Outline of land ownership settled any claims

• Military - Due to incoming threat of a Viking invasion, William needed to figure out how many knights each tenant-in-chief needed to provide

• 1086

NE - Other societal changes

• Trade with Scandinavia reduced and trade with Normandy increases

• Anglo-Saxons replaced with Normans to stop rebellion

• Official writing done in Latin, Nobles spoke Norman-French

• Code of chivalry introduced for knights

• Royal estates were 20% of land and Church owned 25%

SC2 - Build-up: Bishop Odo

• 1066 - Contributed 100 ship to William's invasion fleet

• Fought at the Battle of Hastings and made Earl of Kent (second landholder only to the king)

• 1067 - Made co-regent along with William FitzOsbern and commissioned the Bayeux Tapestry

• 1076 - Complaints made to Lanfranc about him seizing land and is forced to give it back after three day enquiry

• 1082 - Falls out of favour with William after failed attempt to raise an army and become Pope, imprisoned, and not released until after William's death

SC2 - Build up: The king and his sons

• Robert "Curthose" , William "Rufus", and Henry

• 1077 - Robert's chamber pot prank creates feud with him and William R

• Robert's revolt: Tried to take over Rouen castle, failed and fled to Flanders, given Normandy border castle to launch attacks, defeated William in battle, mother reconciles them

• William had announced Rufus as his heir, despite him being second-born

• William died in September 1087 after getting injured falling off his horse months earlier

SC2 - Reasons for crisis

• Barons supported Robert as him taking the throne would not only keep in line with tradition, but his weak character meant he could be easily exploitable

• Robert had been control of Normandy and Rufus of England, but the barons wanted the two nations to be united under one leader

• Robert had his father's deathbed letter to Lanfranc as evidence and his strong character threatened the power of the earls

SC2 - Team Curthose

• Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy

• Bishop Odo of Bayeux

• Robert of Mortain

• Bishop William of Saint-Calais

• Another seven Norman barons

SC2 - Team Rufus

• William Rufus, King William I of England

• The English Population

• The majority of Norman Barons

• All but one English bishop

Odo’s revolt

Released from prison, Led a rebellion with Robert's support, Got overwhelmed and hid in a castle, Robert never arrived and surrendered and was exiled