Topic Two: Norman Invasion

Who were the Normans and why did they invade England?

guys from normandy. William the conqueror wanted crown of england (distant claim).

What took place at the Battle of Hastings?

the decisive battle in which William the Conqueror (duke of Normandy) defeated the Saxons under Harold II (1066) and thus left England open for the Norman Conquest

What was the Harrying of the North?

involved burning livestock, crops, and farming equipment as well as salting the fields to make it impossible to grow crops. This ensured that no future rebel army would be able to support itself in the north, but killed many innocents through the resultant famine, which was devastating.

What was the Bayeux Tapestry? 

The Bayeux Tapestry shows in pictures the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England by William the Conqueror, and the Battle of Hastings.

produced between 1067 and 1079, most likely by embroiderers working in Canterbury, England,

really an embroidery

scenes are stitched not woven into the linen.

the largest and best-preserved such work from the Middle Ages

invaluable not only for its contribution to the story of the Norman invasion but also for its depiction of many aspects of medieval warfare and daily life.

What is Manorialism? Serfdom?

a system of economic and social relationships between lords and their dependent farm laborers in the Medieval Period.

people under the economic supervision of a lord

worked the land

tied to the land

Who was Edward the Confessor?

king, reclaimed Anglo-Saxon rule of England from the Danes following the death of his Danish half-brother,

Died w/o heir

Who was William the Conqueror?

Duke of Normandy (also known as William the Conqueror) invaded England and defeated King Harold II at the famous Battle of Hastings.

Who was Harold Godwinson?

A member of the extremely powerful Godwinson family and the Earl of Wessex

Selected by Witan

Why did William the Conqueror think he had a right to rule England?

William, Duke of Normandy, justified his claim in a variety of ways. On the one hand, he also had a (rather distant) blood tie to Edward the Confessor as Edward's mother had been Emma of Normandy, sister of William's grandfather (making William Edward's first cousin once removed). William also claimed that Edward had promised the English crown to William.

Bayeux tapestry

Westminster abbey - divine right

strongest man

How did the Norman Invasion affect Land distribution?

Land moves from English aristocracy to Normans

Feudalism and Manorialism

How did the Norman Invasion affect Social Class?

introduced feudalism and manorialsim

Slaves merged with serfs

wealthy worse off cuz normans took lands

How did the Norman Invasion affect Language?

upper classes - french

lower classes - anglo saxons

children of norman fathers and a-s mothers would be bilignual

rich ate animals so they used diff words for the meat (beef, etc)

Poor farmed animals so they used diff words (cow, pig, etc)

How did the Norman Invasion affect Architecture?

Tore down all the churches (except westminster) and put new romanesque ones