resistance - normans (1067-1071)

describe William’s actions after the Battle of Hastings

• William and his men marched to Dover, where they became very ill with dysentery

• in London, the remaining English nobility chose Edgar Aethling as Harold’s successor, but they didn’t attack William at Dover

• after recovery, William led his army on a brutal march through south-east England, pillaging and destroying homes and farms

• towns and villages were surrounded

• William led his army around London to Berkhamsted, rather than attacking London directly

• Edgar Aethling, Edwin and Morcar and the other English nobles came to greet William as their monarch in Berkhamstead

describe the strengths of the earls’ position after William’s coronation

• London was strongly fortified and William would lose a lot of men and resources if he attempted attacking the capital

• the earls had chosen to support Edgar, who had a much stronger claim to the throne than William

• William might have gained control of the earldom of Wessex, but Mercia (controlled by Edwin) and Northumbria (controlled by Morcar) were the 2 next strongest earldoms, representing over half the country

describe the weaknesses of the earls’ position after William’s coronation

• although London was a stronghold, William’s route threatened to cut it off from reinforcements from the north

• Edgar had only recently arrived in England and lacked a support system in England

  • he took no decisive action as king, worsened by the indecision of the earls and Edgar

• Battle of Hastings had been a crushing defeat for the earls

  • the best Saxon warriors had been killed

  • many Anglo Saxons believed that God had decided the Saxons should lose in order to punish England

describe the weaknesses of the William’s position after William’s coronation

• William and his troops were deep into enemy territory with no secure place to retreat

• William’s claim to the throne was irrelevant if the Witan had already chosen a new king, backed up by the Church

• William’s troops were tiny (~5000) compared to a fyrd levied from the earls

• Many Norman soldiers had been ill with dysentery

describe the strengths of the William’s position after William’s coronation

• William acted quickly to seize Winchester, which gave him control of the royal treasury

  • without this treasure, Edgar could not monetarily incentivise his followers, but William could

• William was an extremely effective leader and he had the respect and loyalty of his soldiers, despite the dangers of conquering

• William’s systems of violence and destruction were extremely effective which meant he did not require large troop numbers

  • people rushed to submit to William instead of facing this violence

describe how William initially tried to avoid English rebellion

• he promised to rule within King Edward the Confessor’s laws and to work with the surviving English lords

• he allowed earls Edwin and Morcar to keep their titles and most of their land, despite their previous opposition

• he allowed English thegns to buy back their lands from him as long as they had not fought with the Saxons in the Battle of Hastings

• he retained Stigand and Aldred as archbishops instead of replacing them with Normans

describe William’s problems with preventing English rebellion

• William needed to reward the men who fought with him at Hastings

• William also needed to show the men who fought with him that he was an honourable lord who was working to reward them

• this led to William giving his men the lands of the English lords who died at Hastings

• for example, William fitzOsbern, William’s childhood friend, received much of Harold Godwinson’s land (he had been Earl of Wessex)

describe the first rebellion after the Battle of Hastings

• rebellion and disorder broke out on the border between England and Wales

• caused by the local Welsh princes that Harold had also had to quell rebellion from

• these Welsh princes carried out raids into England and were potential allies for English rebels fighting William’s legitimacy as monarch

describe how William the Conqueror restored peace in the Marchers and defended the Welsh border

• William created three new earldoms

• Earl of Chester - Hugh d’Avranches

• Earl of Shrewsbury - Roger of Montgomery

• Earl of Hereford - William fitzOsbern

describe the causes of Edwin and Morcar’s revolt in 1068 (LAND)

• 1067 - William came back from Normandy and gave away Saxon land to his loyal followers

• William’s half-brother, Odo of Bayeux, took Saxon land illegally

• William built numerous Norman castles, which were an imposition of William’s dominance and power on the English landscape

  • many homes had to be cleared for castles to be built and castellans (governors of the castles) called on local people in the area to provide things for the castles

• Morcar’s earldom (Northumberland) was also reduced in size and some of it given to Copsi (one of Tostig’s old thegns)

  • this caused Morcar to lose power and money

• William let Edwin keep his earldom after he conquered England

  • however, William also ensured Mercia would become much smaller and less influential

describe the causes of Edwin and Morcar’s revolt in 1068 (PERSONAL)

• William had promised to let Edwin marry his daughter and went back on his word, annoying Edwin

• powerful Normans, such as Odo of Bayeux and William FitzOsbern, raped Anglo-Saxon women without punishment

describe the causes of Edwin and Morcar’s revolt in 1068 (UNFAIR LEADERSHIP)

• William’s geld tax (tax to the king) annoyed Anglo Saxon earls

  • spring 1067 - William took this geld back to Normandy, which didn’t benefit England

1066 - London

• William’s knights are invited London citizens to submit to his rule

• they burnt houses along the south bank when the English refused or fought back

1067 - Hereford

• Eadric the Wild persuaded important Welsh princes to join his rebellion

• despite its large following, the rebellion never threatened to get out of hand

• as William deemed this issue non-serious, he remained in Normandy

1068 - Exeter

• Gytha, Harold Godwinson’s mother, encouraged a rebellion in Exeter

• William surrounded the city and after 18 days, Exeter surrendered

• William pardoned the rebels in return for their oaths of loyalty

• but he took Gytha’s lands and built a large castle on them

1068 - summer

• he English in northern England declared they would fight William if he ever set foot in their lands

• William marched north from London and built castles in key northern cities along the way

• e.g. he built a castle in York

1069 - spring

• the Anglo-Saxon leader in the north; Edgar Aethling, with the support of Malcolm (King of Scotland) attacked York

• William rushed north to defeat the rebels

• after his success, he built a second castle in York and left the city in the hands of William FitzOsbern

1069 - winter

• English rebels and Danish invaders plundered York and hid out in the marshes of North Lincolnshire

• William paid the Danes and their king; King Swein, to go home

• William harried north, where Norman soldiers worked their way across 100+ miles of land

  • these soldiers killed rebels and destroyed land along the way

1070-1071 - Ely

• 1070 - a Danish fleet returned to England and made alliances with local people, including a rebel leader (Hereward the Wake)

• the Danes and Hereward raided Peterborough Abbey for riches

• after this pillaging, the Danes returned to Denmark; leaving Hereward to fight the Normans

  • Hereward was defeated

  • Earl Morcar and other leaders who rebelled were imprisoned for life

  • other rebels had their hands or eyes cut off

state the key source for historians about the harrying of the north

• Orderic Vitalis (1075-1142)

  • English chronicler

  • Benedictine monk

  • represented a neutral view (no biases towards Saxons or Normans)

    • significant as he described the harrying of the north as “brutal slaughter”

describe how William dealt with rebellion in the Harrying of the North

• he utilised starvation to weaken the Northern population

  • destroyed crops and the fertility of the soil

• he killed rebels and rebel sympathisers

• he created wastelands out of northern villages

describe how the Harrying of the North is significant

• signals a shift from diplomatic and largely non-violent strategies to brutal slaughter

• this violence would have been used to make a statement, demonstrating William no longer had any tolerance for insurrection

• however, he still employed tactical strategies

  • bribing the Danish and Exeter rebels