The Norman Conquest of England and Its Effects

The Norman conquest of England began in 1066 with the the invasion Kingdom of England of by the troops of William , Duke of Normandy , and his victory at the Battle of Hastings . This resulted in Norman control of England, which was firmly established during the next few years.

The Norman Conquest was a pivotal event in

English history

for several reasons.

It largely removed the native ruling class, replacing it with a foreign, French-speaking monarchy, aristocracy, and clerical hierarchy.

This, in turn, brought transformation of the about

language

and the culture of England.

a

English

King Edward of England (called "The Confessor" because of his construction of Westminster Abbey) died on January 5, 1066, after a reign of 23 years.

Leaving no heirs, Edward's passing ignited a three-way rivalry for the crown that culminated in the Battle of Hastings and the destruction of the Anglo-Saxon rule of Englan d.

The leading pretender was Harold Godwinson, the second most powerful man in England and an advisor to Edward. Harold's powerful position, his relationship to Edward and his esteem among his peers made him a logical successor to the throne.

His claim was strengthened when the dying Edward supposedly uttered "Into Harold's hands I commit my Kingdom." With this kingly endorsement, the Witan (the council of royal advisors) unanimously selected Harold as King.

Across the English Channel, William, Duke of Normandy, also laid claim to the English throne. William justified his claim through his blood relationship with Edward (they were distant cousins) and by stating that some years earlier, Edward had designated him as his successor. To compound the issue, William asserted that he had the message in which Edward anointed him as the next King of England.

Normandy is a region in northern France which in the years experienced extensive prior Viking to 1066 resettlement.

In 911, the French Charles the Simple Carolingian ruler allowed a group of Vikings under their leader Rollo to settle in northern France as part of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte . Charles hoped that by doing so he would end the Viking attacks that were plaguing France at the time.

Their settlement proved successful, and the Vikings in the region became known as the Northmen from which Normandy is derived.

The Normans quickly adapted indigenous culture, renouncing to paganism converting to the and Christianity . They adopted the langue d'oïl of their new home and added features from their own Norse language , transforming it into the Norman language .

They further blended into the culture by intermarrying with the local population

According to William, Harold had sworn on the relics of a martyred saint that he would support William's right to the throne. From William's perspective, when Harold took the Crown he not only defied the wishes of Edward but had violated a sacred oath. He immediately prepared to invade England and destroy the upstart Harold. Harold's violation of his sacred oath enabled William to secure the support of the Pope who promptly excommunicated Harold, consigning him and his supporters to an eternity in Hell.

The third rival for the throne was Harald Hardrada, King of Norway. His justification was even more tenuous than William's. Hardrada ruled Norway jointly with his nephew Mangus until 1047 when Mangus conveniently died. Earlier (1042), Mangus had cut a deal with Harthacut the Danish ruler of England. Since neither ruler had a male heir, both promised their kingdom to the other in the event of his death.

Hardrada of Norway struck first. In mid September, Hardrada's invasion force landed on the Northern English coast, sacked a few coastal villages and headed towards the city of York. Hardrada was joined in his effort by Tostig, King Harold's discontented brother.

In London, news of the invasion sent King Harold hurriedly north at the head of his army picking up reinforcements along the way. The speed of Harold's forced march allowed him to surprise Hardrada's army on September 25, as it camped at Stamford Bridge outside York. A fierce battle followed.

Meanwhile William assembled a large invasion fleet and an army gathered not only from Normandy but from all over France, including large contingents from Brittany and Flanders . He mustered his forces at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme .

The army was ready to cross by about 12 August. However, the crossing was delayed, either because of unfavourable weather or because of the desire to avoid being intercepted by the powerful English fleet

Construction of the Norman invasion fleet had been completed in July and all was ready for the Channel crossing. Unfortunately, William's ships could not penetrate an uncooperative north wind and for six weeks he languished on the Norman shore. Finally, on September 27, after parading the relics of St. Valery at the water's edge, the winds shifted to the south and the fleet set sail. They landed at Pevensey in Sussex on 28 September and erected a wooden castle at Hastings , from which they raided the surrounding area.

Harold rushed his army south and planted his battle standards atop a knoll some five miles from Hastings.

During the early morning of the next day, October 14, Harold's army watched as a long column of Norman warriors marched to the base of the hill and formed a battle line.

The English at the top of the hill responded by raising their shields above their heads forming a shield-wall to protect them from the rain of arrows.

The battle was joined.

The English fought defensively while the Normans infantry and cavalry repeatedly charged their shield-wall. The Normans were better equipped fighters. They had medieval armour and weapons, even their horses were in armour. The Norman knight and his horse were like a charging tank against the primitive weapons and skin shields of the Anglo-Saxons.

As the combat slogged on for the better part of the day, the battle's outcome was in question, because there was a far large number of Saxons than invading Normans. Finally, as evening approached, the English line gave way and the Normans rushed their enemy with a vengeance.

King Harold fell majority of the Saxon aristocracy.

as did the

After his victory at Hastings, William expected to receive the submission of the surviving English leaders, but instead Edgar Atheling proclaimed king by the was Witenagemot , with the support of Earls Edwin and Morcar, Stigand , Canterbury , and Archbishop Ealdred , of Archbishop of York . William therefore advanced, marching around the coast of London.

Kent to

The English leaders surrendered to William at Berkhamsted , Hertfordshire .

William was acclaimed King of England and crowned by Ealdred on 25 December 1066, in Westminster Abbey .

The Norman invasion of England was unlike that involving massive immigrations of people seeking new lands in which to settle and farm as marked by the Anglo-Saxon and Danish invasions.

This new phenomenon was practically an overnight affair.

William's victories were swift, sudden and self-contained.

No new wave of people came to occupy the land, only a small, ruling aristocracy.

The Bayeux Tapestry ( French : Tapisserie de Bayeux) is a 0.5 by 70 metres long an actual embroidered tapestry cloth — not — which depicts the events leading up to the conquest of England Norman as well as the events of the invasion itself. The Bayeux Tapestry is annotated in Latin .

The Tapestry contains hundreds of images divided into scenes each describing a particular event. The scenes are joined into a linear sequence allowing the viewer to "read" the entire story starting with the first progressing to the last.

scene and

The Tapestry's story begins in 1064. King Edward, who has no heirs, has decided that William of Normandy will succeed him.

Having made his decision; Edward calls upon Harold to deliver the message.

Having received the message that Edward has anointed him as his successor; William calls upon Harold to swear an oath of allegiance to him and to his right to the throne. The Tapestry shows Harold, both hands placed upon religious relics enclosed in two shrines, swearing his oath as William looks on. The onlookers, including William, point to the event to add further emphasis

.

One observer (far right) places his hand over his heart to underscore the sacredness of Harold's action. Although William is seated, he appears larger in size than Harold. The disproportion emphasizes Harold's inferior status to William. The Latin inscription reads "Where Harold took an oath to Duke William."

The death and burial of King Edward is presented in three scenes whose chronological order is reversed. The first image (1) depicts Westminster Abbey. This is followed by Edward's funeral procession (2) and then his death (3).

Harold is crowned king on January 6. In the spring, near Easter, a comet appears in the sky. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes the event: "Easter was then on the sixteenth day before the calends of May. Then was over all England such a token seen as no man ever saw before. Some men said that it was the comet-star, which others denominate the long-hair'd star.

A star with streaming hair then appears: Halley's Comet . The first appearance of the comet would have been 24 April, nearly four months after Harold's coronation. Comets, in the beliefs of the Middle Ages , warned of impending doom.

Upon hearing the news of Harold's coronation, William immediately orders the building of an invasion fleet. The Tapestry construction describes of in the detail fleet the and preparations for the invasion providing insight into eleventh century building techniques. With preparations complete, William waits on the Normandy shore for a favorable wind to take him to England.

The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066, less than three weeks on from the Battle of Stamford Bridge . The English fight on foot behind a shield wall , whilst the Normans are on horses.

This is one of many scenes depicting the ferocity of the battle. Wielding his battle axe, a Saxon deals a death-blow to the horse of a Norman. This was the first time the Normans had encountered an enemy armed with the battle-axe. For the Saxons, this was the first time they had battled an enemy mounted on horseback. This scene probably describes the later stages of the battle when the Norman knights had broken through the Saxon shield wall. At the bottom of the scene lay the dead bodies of both Normans and Saxons.

King Harold tries to pull an arrow from his right eye. Several arrows are lodged in his shield showing he was in the thick of the battle. To the right, a Norman knight cuts down the wounded king assuring his death. At the bottom of the scene the victorious Normans claim the spoils of war as they strip the chain mail from bodies while collecting shields and swords from the dead.

Reliability of the Tapestry While political propaganda or personal emphasis may have somewhat distorted the historical accuracy of the story, the Bayeux tapestry presents a unique visual document of medieval arms, apparel, and other objects unlike any other artifact surviving from this period. Nevertheless, it has been noted that the warriors are depicted fighting with bare hands, while other sources indicate the general use of gloves in battle and hunt.

Once England had been conquered, the Normans faced many challenges in maintaining control. The Normans were few in number compared to the native English population.

Historians estimate the number of Norman settlers at around 8,000, but Norman in this instance includes not just natives of Normandy, but settlers from other parts of France. The Normans overcame this numerical deficit by adopting innovative methods of control.

First, unlike Cnut the Great , who had rewarded his followers with money rather than displacing native landholders, William's followers expected and received lands and titles in return for their service in the invasion. However, William claimed ultimate possession of virtually all the land in England over which his armies had given him de facto control, and asserted the right to dispose of it as he saw fit. Henceforth, all land was "held" from the King.

William retained about a fifth of this land for his own use. The rest was distributed to those men who had helped him defeat Harold the at the Battle of Hastings feudal system . Under the 170 tenants-in-chief (or barons) had to provide armed men on horseback number of for knights military service.

The a baron had to provide depended on the amount of land he had been given.

In 1067 William and his army went on a tour of England where he organised the confiscating of lands, built castles and established law and order . His chroniclers claim that he met no opposition during his travels around the country. No baron was given very large plots of land but dispersed. The idea in Wiliam’s mind was that no baron could quickly raise an extensive army against him.

The only large pieces of land were given to barons who settled along the borders of Wales and Scotland. Their lands and castles formed a defense against the unconquered Celtic populations.

While he was away, disturbances broke out in Kent, Herefordshire, and in the north of the country.

William returned to England in December, 1067, and over the next few months the rebellions were put down. However, in 1068, another insurrection, led by Harold's sons, took place at Exeter . Once again he successfully defeated the rebels. Afterwards he built castles in Exeter and other key towns. This included Durham 1069.

which was the scene of a rebellion in

William also re-organized the Church.

Lanfranc became the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Three other bishops were deposed and by the end of 1070 only two sees were occupied by English bishops.

William tended to appoint well educated men of good character to these posts. He gave the church large portions of land and made it a power in his kingdom.

William returned to Normandy in 1073 and later that year conquered Maine. He spent much of his time in Normandy and governed England from across the Channel.

In 1083 William had to put down a rebellion led by Hubert de Beaumont in Maine. Two years later he returned to England to deal with a suspected invasion by King Cnut of Denmark. While waiting for the attack to take place he decided to order a comprehensive survey of his kingdom. There were three main reasons why William decided to order a survey.

(1) The information would help William discover how much the people of England could afford to pay in tax. (2) The information about the distribution of the population would help William plan the defense of England against possible invaders. (3) There was a great deal of doubt about who owned some of the land in England. William planned to use this information to help him make the right judgements when people were in dispute over land ownership.

We do know that William of Normandy won and changed the face of the nation forever. Not only was the land now governed by a foreign king and subjected to a foreign aristocracy, for the next four hundred years it wasted its resources and manpower on futile attempts to keep its French interests alive while, at the same time, becoming part of (and contributing to) the spectacular flowering of European culture.

The Conquest meant a new dynasty for England and a new aristocracy. It brought feudalism and it introduced changes in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, with the attendant change relations of Church and State.

in the

Native Anglo-Saxons were also soon purged from high governmental and ecclesiastical office. After 1075 all earldoms were held by Normans, while Englishmen were only occasionally appointed as sheriffs. Likewise in the Church senior English office-holders were either expelled from their positions or kept in place for their lifetimes but replaced by foreigners when they died. By 1096 no bishopric was held by any Englishman, while English abbots became uncommon, especially in the larger monasteries.

William's prestige among his followers increased tremendously because he was able to award them vast tracts of land at little cost to himself. His awards also had a basis in consolidating his own control; with each gift of land and titles, the newly created feudal lord would have to build a castle and subdue the Saxons. Thus the conquest was self perpetuating.

William and his successors were largely absentee rulers. For example, after 1072, William spent more than 75% of his time in France rather than in England. While he needed to be personally present in Normandy to defend the realm from foreign invasion and put down internal revolts, he was able to set up royal administrative structures that enabled him to rule England from a distance, by "writ". Kings were not the only absentees since the Anglo-Norman barons would use the practice too.

Begun in 1080, the unique "Domesday Book" (the book of unalterable judgements), was an attempt to provide the king with every penny to which he was legally entitled. It worked only too well, reckoning the wealth of England "down to the last pig." To determine how the country was occupied and with what sort of people, William sent his men into every shire and had them find out how many hundred hides there were in the shire, what land and cattle the king should have in the country, and what dues he ought to have in twelve months from the shire.

The name Domesday comes from the English English word dom (of which the Old Modern doom is a descendant), meaning accounting or reckoning, with cognates in other Germanic languages .

Thus domesday, or doomsday, is literally a day of reckoning, meaning that a lord takes account of what is owed by his subjects.

The Domesday Book forms a remarkable record of the state of England in the mid-1080's. A sample of the questions asked is found at Ely Cathedral:

How many ploughs are there in the manor ?

How many mills and fishponds ?

How many freemen, villagers and slaves are there in the manor ?

How much woodland, pasture, meadow ?

What does each freeman owe in the manor ?

How much is the manor worth ?

The questions were designed to find out how much each manor owed the king in tax. It also told William who owned what land and how much it was worth. The book lists each manor and its owner and the value of that manor. The book has three values in it for each manor : How much it was worth before the invasion of 1066 How much it was worth during the invasion and How much it was worth after the invasion

Everybody had to pay their tax to the king. This meant that no lord or other nobleman could build up enough money to raise a private army to challenge William . It also meant that William had money to increase the size of his own army - paid for by English taxes.

William made efforts to reorganize the Church in Normandy even before the Conquest of England. William had presented his invasion to the Pope as a minor crusade in which the "corrupt" Saxon Church in England would be reformed.

The sophisticated Saxon form of government was handed over to the Normans and grew stronger.

The Normans centralized the autonomous shire system. The Domesday survey exemplifies the practical codification which enabled Norman assimilation of conquered territories through central control of a census . It was the first kingdom-wide census taken in Europe since the time of the Romans , and enabled more efficient taxation of the Normans' new realm.

The Normans built their first castle at Hastings soon after they arrived in 1066. They looked for sites that provided natural obstacles to an enemy, such as a steep hill or a large expanse of water. It was also be important to have good views of the surrounding countryside .

The Norman conquerors realized that with only 10,000 soldiers in England, they would be at a disadvantage if the one and a half million Anglo-Saxons decided to rebel against them. To defend the territory they had conquered, the Normans began building castles all over England.

Richard Fitz Gilbert , like the other Norman leaders, looked for sites that provided natural defences such as a steep hill or a large expanse of water. To protect his estates in Kent, Richard built a castle at Tonbridge, by the side of the River Medway.

Other Norman castles built in the decades of after the conquest were constructed of stone and still stand to this very day:

Constructed around the same time as the Tower of London (late 11th century), Dover Castle stands as one of the earliest castles built by William the Conqueror after his conquest of Anglo-Saxon England. Duke William had the castle built near an old Roman lighthouse and burgh, which King Harold (the last Saxon king of medieval England) established sometime before the Norman invasion in 1066.

Changes in language also became permanent.

The new nobility knew no English and probably did little to learn it (in contrast to the situation on the borders of Wales where many Norman lords freely fraternized and married local inhabitants and learned the Welsh language).

Though English continued to be spoken by the great majority, it was the language of the common people, not those in power, a situation that wasn't to change until the 14th century.

Norman Rule not only affected political and social institutions, but the English language itself.

A huge body of French words were ultimately to become part of the English vocabulary, many of these continuing side by side with their English equivalent, such as "sacred" and "holy", "legal" and "lawful," "stench" and "aroma," etc. Many French words replaced English ones, so that before the end of the 14th century Chaucer was able to use a vast store of new words such as "courage" in place of "heartness," and so on.

English became vastly enriched, more cosmopolitan, sharing its Teutonic and Romance traditions.

There was still the matter of how to deal with the Celtic kingdoms of Britain, those beyond the borders, those that were not occupied by the Saxons and where the language and customs remained more or less untouched: Scotland and Wales.

William seemed to regard Scotland as an area best left alone.

Various Welsh princes were still vying for power. The last ruler who could truly call himself King of Wales, Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, was killed in 1063. The country was then rent by a series of inter-family squabbles and William seized his opportunity to establish a firm western frontier by giving away lands along the border to some of his most loyal supporters. These so-called border barons or Marcher Lords were left free to add to their territories as they wished.

The Norman barons encouraged their followers to push gradually westward into Welsh territory.

The Normans possessed several "weapons" which gave them an advantage over the Welsh.

The Norman knights were better armoured and horsed than the Welsh, and they erected castles to hold each parcel of territory they carved from Welsh holdings.

Continued Welsh efforts to drive out the Normans from their border territories was of great concern to England's rulers. In 1095, William II started sending royal armies into Wales and the practice was continued by Henry I. The great expense of such adventures meant that an easier way to keep Wales in check was to preserve the territories of the Marcher lordships, which remained in existence for over four hundred years.

After the conquest, relations between the Anglo-Norman monarchy and the French crown became increasingly fractious. Considerable hostility had already developed between William and his Capetian overlords before the invasion of England, and this was soon exacerbated by Capetian support for his son Robert Curthose , who fought a series of wars against his father and later against his brothers. As Dukes of Normandy, William and his descendants were still vassals of the King of France, but as Kings of England they were his equals .

The entanglement of the English kingdom with the continental possessions and interests of the French magnates who had seized the throne embroiled England in almost four centuries of recurrent warfare against the Kings of France. These conflicts gave rise to a deep-rooted and durable tradition of Anglo-French rivalry and antagonism.

William ruled England until his death in 1087. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recalls the Norman King in its entry for that year: "But amongst other things is not to be forgotten that good peace that he made in this land; so that a man of any account might go over his kingdom unhurt with his bosom full of gold.

No man durst slay another, had he never so much evil done to the other; and if any churl lay with a woman against her will, he soon lost the limb that he played with. He truly reigned over England; and by his capacity so thoroughly surveyed it, that there was not a hide of land in England that he wist not who had it, or what it was worth, and afterwards set it down in his book."

As the fourth son of the Conqueror, Henry was destined for a Church career and therefore received a more thorough education than most Norman lords, earning him the nickname of “Beauclerc” (well-learned). He took the crown in August 1100, a mere three days after the mysterious death of his brother William II in a New Forest hunting accident.

Henry was the first Norman king born in England and the first to speak English. During his long reign, the sharp differences between English and Norman society began to decrease.

By marrying Edith of Scotland, who carried the bloodline of Saxon and Celtic kings, Henry merged the old and new dynasties of England.

Henry’s rule depended on the efficiency and loyalty of his closest ministers. For much of his reign, Roger, Bishop of Salisbury held the key post of Chancellor.

Roger created the twice-yearly Exchequer sessions each Easter and Michaelmas at which sheriffs and their revenue officials had to justify their accounts and balance their accounts.

The earliest of these financial audits were conducted across a long wooden table covered in check cloth, from which the term “the Exchequer” derives.

The earliest Norman monarchs valued their French homelands more than their English acquisitions. When William divided his lands amongst his sons, the eldest Robert received the prize, Normandy. In 1106 Henry decisively defeated Robert’s forces and Robert spent the remaining 28 years of his life as Henry’s prisoner.

However, by reuniting the Norman inheritance with his own name and lineage, Henry had linked the English Crown to France. Royal ambitions across the Channel later distracted Henry’s successors for the next four centuries.