The Normans

The Middle Ages started in 1066 with the battle of Hastings

In the Battle of Hastings the Norman King William the Conqueror defeated the Anglosaxon king Harold.

The Normans introduced French in England and the new language which was a mixture of Anglosaxon and French was called Middle English

The Normans introduced feudalism, where the king and the Clergy are at the top, Barons and Knights in the middle and then the servs. The king gave a patch of land to the barons and the knights and they swore loyalty to the king and that they would lend him their soldiers in case of war.

William the Conqueror was loyal to the Church and paid Peter’s Pence to the Pope.

The Normans built castles and the most famous one is the London Tower former house of William the Conqueror

William the Conqueror had the Domesday book written. He sent barons and Knights around the country to survey the richness of the population for taxes.(Levy taxes= imporre tasse)

The Anglosaxons became the Norman servs but the Anglosaxon noblemen were divided in friends to the king ( a lot of lands) and enemies to the king (few lands)

When William died the dukedom of Normandy passed onto his firstborn Robert and the throne of England to his third born WIlliam II. When William II died in 1100 ascended to the throne his brother Henry. After the death of Henry the First( heir to the Throne) in England started a civil war. Henry wanted his daughter Matilda to reign but not all barons supported her, some thought that it would be best if her cousin Stephen reigned. This discrepancy caused a civil war, won at the end by Henry II, Matilda’s son.