Norman Conquest: Conquest and Control

Why was the Domesday book created?

• A Danish army had joined forces with the Court of Flanders and was threatening to invade England- this was one of the biggest crises of Williams reign

• After a deep conversation with his cousin he made the unexpected decision to order a survey of England

What was the Domesday book comprised of?

A record of every piece of land and property in the Kingdom. It would be a complete list of who owned what in England.

The Domesday Book is actually made up of two books. What are they and what information is in them?

It was not a single book:

• Little Domesday covered the regions of Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk

• Great Domesday covered the rest of England

What were some of the other names of the Domesday book?

Government officials called in the Book of Winchester, the Book of the Treasury or the King’s book

Why was the Domesday Book named what it was?

The English wanted a name that reflected it’s true power

How was data for the Domesday Book collected?

• William organised the 34 English shires into 7 regions

• He appointed 4 commissioners to collect information from each region

What are some examples of the questions commissioners may have asked to collect information for the Domesday Book?

• What is the name of the manor?

• How many ploughs?

• How much woodland?

• How many slaves?

What two different dates did the commissioners ask for when collecting information for the Domesday Book?

• They asked firstly for information about the manor of the first day Edward the Confessor died in 1066

• They then asked on the day in 1066 when the survey too place

Why was the Domesday Book useful?

It gave William vital knowledge about how the ownership and value of his Kingdom had changed during the Conquest

Why was collecting information for the Domesday Book difficult?

• Collecting all the information in just 6 moths was challenging

• Some people had written documents proving they owned a piece of land

• Some had been granted land by William verbally and had no physical proof

• The jurors had to make life-changing decisions about who owned what

Why was Old Sarum so important?

• In 1070, William chose this place as a location for a motte and bailey castle

• Old Sarum became one of the great centres of power in Norman England

What happened in August 1086 in Old Sarum?

• Archbishops, bishops, abbots, Barons and knight from all over England gathered at the King’s castle

• August 1 1086- Norman Nobles knelt in front of King William and swore an oath of loyalty to him

• William was then presented with seven thick parchment documents- the result of the surveys for the Domesday Book

Why was the ceremony at Old Sarum in 1086 beneficial for William?

A large and public display of loyalty and power reinforced his position as the undisputed ruler of England

How did William the Conqueror die?

• In the summer of 1087 he took part in a military campaign, sailing across the English channel and burning the French town of Mantes

• William’s horse buckled and he was thrown violently against the hard pommel at the front of his saddle

• The King bled internally and never recovered, dying on the 9th of September 1087

What did historians believe the purpose of the Domesday Book was for many years?

• They thought William wanted to created a massive tax database so that he could squeeze money out of England

• William desperately needed money to defend against threatened Viking invasion in 1086

What do historians think the purpose of the Domesday Book was now?

• They believed the book was not a tax inventory as it was not laid out in a way that would be helpful for collecting taxes

• They believe it’s purpose was for Normans to establish their legal right to own English lands that they had taken

• The book also demonstrates that William was the undisputed ruler of England and Normans held their lands through his power and authority

• The book also does not include the reign of Harold Godwinson- this could have been an attempt to cut him out of history as William believed he did not have the right to be King

What was the population of England in 1086 and what number of these were Norman?

• Two million people

• 20,000- about 1%- were Norman

How did English Nobles lose their lands throughout the Norman Conquest?

• William’s men who had fought at the Battle of Hastings were awarded the land of English Earls and thegns who had died in battle

• English Nobles who survived were allowed to keep their land at first but over the next 4 years of rebellion after the Battle of Hastings William’s policy changed and the Conquest turned into a massive land-grab

What does the Domesday Book reveal about the effect of the Norman Conquest on land ownership?

• Hardly any English thegns kept their lands by 1086- of 180 tenant-in-chiefs who owned the largest estates, only 4 were English

• The King held 20% of the land

• The Church held 25% of the land

• Norman Lords held 50% of the land

• 5% belonged to English landowners

How did Alan Rufus become the sixth richest Norman Lord in England?

• He was a second cousin to William and played a leading role in the Battle of Hastings

• In the months after the Battle, he built a castle in Cambridgeshire

• In 1069, he helped to put down rebellion in the North and the King rewarded him with the honour of Richmond and other lands in Yorkshire

• In 1086- the Domesday Book shows us he owned lands in 12 different shires in England, giving him an income of £1000 a year- making him a billionaire today

How did New Norman Lords rule their land differently to the English elite?

• Anglo-Saxons usually had one name but Norman Lords attached a place name to their first name to show they owned a piece of land

• Normans passed land onto their eldest son rather than dividing up their property

• Normans built castles at the centres of their estates and they often ruled their lands harshly

Why was the population of Yorkshire in 1086 a quarter of what it had been in 1066?

Because of the Harrying of the North- the destruction of Northern England which took the region many years to recover

What percentage of the English population worked in agrciculture?

• 90% worked in agriculture

• This made England a rural society

How did the Norman conquest change the structure of society?

• The number of Saxons who were free ceorls fell dramatically

• Peasants were now forced to pay rent to Norman Lords for land they had once owned

• The Conquest limited the ability for people to make a living

• English families were much poorer

What were the effects of the Norman Conquest in the town of Bourn in Cambridgeshire?

• Nine hides of land had been farmed by 20 free peasants in 1066

• By 1086 more than half had became dependant peasants forced to pay rent to a lord for a land they had once owned

How was slavery impacted by the Norman Conquest?

The Domesday book shows the number of slaves in England had dropped by 25%

How were English families pushed into desperate poverty by the Normans?

• Norman Lords on average raised the income from their lands by 30% between 1066 and 1086

• Increased rents forced many families into desperate povery

What restrictions were introduced which made the lives of English peasants far more difficult?

• Saxons were forced to build castles as part of their service

• English were prevented from fishing in the Lord’s river or collecting firewood in the Lord’s forest

• Norman Lords charged peasants high fees for using their water mills to grind corn

• Life on the manor became much harsher after 1066

What percentage of English people earned their living in a town in 1086?

10%

What happened to burhs and towns established by the Anglo-Saxons?

They were expanded and a small number of new towns were created

How were English towns negatively affected by the Norman Conquest?

• Towns in rebellious areas were burned

• Castle-building led to the clearance of many houses and workshops

• Large towns like York and Oxford suffered a big fall in population

What did Norman Lords do to markets in towns after 1066?

Normans seized control of all market trading in England as they saw it as a valuable source of income

How did the Normans increase taxation?

William made use of geld payment, hugely increasing their prices. The money was used to pay for troops and mercenaries.

What was the Textus Roffensis?

• One of the most important manuscripts in British history

• Written by a monk at Rochester in Kent

• Includes nearly 40 English laws stretching across 500 years between 600 1100

• Includes a long list of fines for violent crimes such as a fine of 50 shillings for gouging out someone’s eye

What was the Saxon trial by ordeal?

• An accused person held a red-hot iron or plunged their hands into boiling water- if the wound healed, it was a sign from God the person was innocent

• A person could also be put in to a lake filled with Holy water- if they floated it was seen as the holiness of the river pushing away the sin in the person’s body so they were punished

What trial did William introduce in England after 1066?

Trial by combat: If an Englishman was accused of a crime and there were no witnesses, he was allowed to defend himself in a sword fight with his Norman accuser

What two laws introduced were particularly hated by the English?

• The Murdrum Fine

• Forest Law

What was the Murdrum Fine?

• Introduced because of rebellion

• If any Norman was murdered, the local English community was forced to pay a crippling fine until the murderer was handed over for trial

What was the Forest Law?

• William enjoyed hunting deer an wild boar

• To preserve these animals, the King created royal forests preventing the English from hunting them and enforcing harsh penalties if caught

• For a rabbit, two fingers were chopped off and for a deer, and Englishman’s eyes were gouged out

What language were most manuscript books written in after the Norman Conquest and why was this a big change?

• They were written in Latin

• This was a big change because up to 1066, monks had mostly written in English

• By 1070 most of the men in power could not read English so the King’s writing office stopped using it

• Latin became the written language of the government and the Church

How did did the Norman Conquest affect language in England?

• Before, everyone spoke English but now those who were in power spoke Norman French- this was a reminder to the English that they were inferior to their rulers

• French and English began to blend together making it a richer and more varied language

What happened in 1070 including the Pope and the Norman Conquest?

• At the Winchester Easter court, the papal legates ceremonially crowned William- it was a transformative moment

• William was accompanied with three representatives of the Pope

• In 1070, the Norman Conquest has been given the official approval of the Pope

What happened in the series of meetings between the papal legates and King William after his crowning in 1070?

They had a series of meeting to reform and reorganise the English Church

What happened to Stigand?

He was deposed as Archbishop of Canterbury and Lanfranc was appointed in his place

Who was appointed the new Archbishop of York?

Thomas of Bayeux

How did the number of English bishops and abbots change by 1080?

• New appointments of Norman bishops and abbots followed in the years after William’s crowning

• By 1080 there was only one English among 16 bishops who remained in office and the Norman abbots were in charge of nearly all English monasteries

What happened to cathedrals after the Norman Conquest?

• They were totally rebuilt

• Norman structures were much larger and more beautiful

• After 1070, work began on rebuilding cathedrals in York, Canterbury and Winchester

• Durham Cathedral is the most complete example of a cathedral built in early Norman England

What happened to monasteries after the Norman Conquest?

• In 1066, there were around 60 Cathedrals

• In the North, many had been wiped out by Viking invasion

• The Norman Conquest led to a revival in monasticism

• Abbeys in Jarrow, Durham and York were restored

• Norman Lords gave gifts of land to abbeys back in Normandy and France using the wealth from abbeys in England

What is an example of the beauty and intricacy of Norman churches?

• St Mary’s Church was rebuilt after the Conquest when Norman Lord Robert Fitzlvo was granted the manor here

• He spent a lot of money rebuilding St Mary’s to make it look beautiful

• We can see this in a stone carving showing St George killing a dragon