(3) England: Notable Concepts (inc. Systems, Technologies, etc.) and Notable Groups

400s - Saxons (All Facts)

• One of the three major Germanic tribes who settled in Great Britain after the departure of the Romans there, along with the Angles and Jutes

• In 480, they were led by Aelle onto Britain’s south coast, where they drove the (Celtic) Britons westward and eventually established their namesake southern kingdom (modern-day Sussex)

• Along with the Normans and Anglos, they comprised the origins of the English people

400s - Jutes (All Facts)

• One of the three major Germanic tribes who settled in Great Britain after the departure of the Romans there, along with the Angles and Saxons

400s - Angles / Anglos (All Facts) 

• One of the three major Germanic tribes who settled in Great Britain after the departure of the Romans there, along with the Jutes and Saxons

• Along with the Normans and Saxons, they comprised the origins of the English people

800s - 1066 - Normans (All Facts)

• Descendants of Vikings who settled in northwestern France in the namesake region, they invaded England under their king William “the Conqueror” which gave him both kingdoms on both sides of the English Channel

• Along with the Anglo-Saxons, they comprised the origins of the English people

• They conquered not just England but Sicily, taking it from the Muslims

English (All Facts)

• As a group of people, they emerged as a combination of Anglo-Saxons and Normans

Stirrup (All Facts)

• Technology introduced to England and Europe from the East in the early 700s which gave horsemen far greater control and greatly enhanced the importance of cavalry

• By the 1000s, this technology made it possible to deal an enemy a fierce blow with a heavier spear or lance couched under one armpit without falling out of the saddle

  • However, buying all the relevant equipment for this technique, especially protective armor, was quite costly

Jousts (All Facts)

• Tournaments / training sessions which became great social and courtly occasions for the wealthy men and aristocrats of the Holy Roman Empire and Europe in the 1000s who could afford to equip themselves or others as knights

• Tournaments which

  • Provided excellent practice in the martial arts

  • Gave successful knights substantial prices

  • Offered chances for the upper classes to meet both socially and for political or diplomatic discussions

  • Promoted ceremony, the concept of chivalry, and the kind of theater epitomized by Ulrich von Lichtenstein and his “Venusfahrt” or “Venus Tour”

• Tournaments which were most strongly associated with the legend of King Arthur and his Round Table, with tournaments taking place within elaborate recreations of Camelot

Chivalry (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to “Horsemanship,” which in 1000s England and Europe became a prestigious occupation

• Term used to refer also to the codes of behavior that had been reinforcing the common bonds of the increasingly aristocratic knights

Great Survey (All Facts)

• Comprehensive census that was taken during William the Conqueror’s reign as King of England

• Census taken of all landholdings and livestock in which every horse, cow, pig, and hen in England was counted throughout England

• It was meant to serve as a massive audit of the nation’s wealth

• Its results were then recorded and compiled in court circles into two volumes known as the “Domesday Book”

• It ultimately allowed William the Conqueror to consolidate his hold on England and harmonize England’s feudal system with that of the Duchy of Normandy

• Its terms overhauled land tenure, with all land in England at that point deemed to be held directly by their king or by his subjects on his behalf

Jews (All Facts)

• They were never accepted in England

• The uneasy tolerance they enjoyed in England was shattered in 1190

• They were attacked in riots that spread throughout the kingdom into the 1200’s, from Durham in the North to Winchester in the South; with the most deadly riots being those in Stamford and Newark

• Religious fanatics in England convinced the simple-minded that the namesake group was responsible for all their problems, and the image of the namesake as a wealthy usurer inevitably made people, especially those who used the namesake group’s services, quite envious

• They were especially targeted by those about to set off on crusades in order to whip up the crusaders’ enthusiasm, since they saw the namesake as enemies of the faith

• Moreover, passionate supporters of the Crusaders or Crusaders themselves who could not afford the journey to the Holy Land found the namesake group to be vulnerable and a far more accessible target than the far-off Muslims

• Under Church law, Christians could not operate as usurers (lending money at interest)

  • Because the namesake were not bound to such a restriction, they filled the necessary role with great skill and effectively monopolized it

• While their community was small by the reign of King Edward, perhaps 3K people total, they played a major role in financing the nation as usurers

• Under the reign of King Edward of England, they were

  • forbidden to practice usury, just like their fellow Christians, in Edward’s namesake statute of 1275

  • however, they refused to comply with this law

  • thus, they were expelled and banned from living in England via the Edict of Expulsion of 1290 as a result of their refusal to comply with previous English law

Scutage (All Facts)

• Tax paid on a knight who wanted to pay money instead of provide military service

1265 - English Parliament (All Facts)

• Political body which increased the rights of the English nobility, but not the general population

  • Its “House of Lords” represented the clergy and nobility

  • Its “House of Commons” comprised elected representatives of wealthy townspeople

  • Eventually, the power of these two legislative bodies in England became stronger than that of similar bodies on the European continent

• Political body which first met during the reign of King Henry III of England, during which King Henry III of England had enacted the “Provisions of Oxford” for the discontented English barons only to have it annulled by King Louis IX of France

  • Some might say that Simon de Montfort’s namesake meeting in response to King Henry III’s might be the first true namesake meeting, since it represented a larger constituency of knights and burgesses and not just barons

    • Simon de Montfort’s namesake meetings reflected the improved status of lesser knights and townsmen in England at the time

    • However, his namesake meeting would lay the foundations for the “House of Commons"

House of Lords (All Facts)

• Parliament house which represented the clergy and nobility

• Its power eventually became stronger than that of similar bodies to it across the European continent

House of Commons (All Facts)

• Parliament house comprised of elected representatives of wealthy townspeople

• Its power eventually became stronger than that of similar bodies to it across the European continent

• Parliament house which evolved out of the first meeting of barons, knights, and burgesses by Simon de Montfort during the Second Barons’ War

Guilds (All Facts)

• Professional associations of artisans and merchants who oversaw the practice of their craft / trade in a particular area

• They were initially granted to all free men in a trade, but it became steadily harder to obtain over the course of history

  • For example, weavers were refused membership over time by merchants worried that too many of them would create a cheap and plentiful supply of labor that would drive prices down

Order of the Garter (All Facts)

• Chivalrous Order in England instituted during the reign of King Edward III

• Inspired by King Edward III’s much-publicized moment of rescue of one of the countesses of Salisbury’s namesake figures at a dance, rebuking onlookers with “Shame on whoever thinks this shameful”

• Competition was high among leading English knights in the kingdom for invitations to the order given that just 25 knights were eligible for membership of the new elite order

• Its members met on St. George’s Day each year

Stanches (All Facts)

• Also known as navigation weirs, they maintained a depth of water for ships and were built in English rivers and canals

• One famous one was built on the Thames River in 1306

Enclosure (All Facts)

• Practice of dividing up and closing off the common lands of peasants